BDL Management to build Shetland hotel with guaranteed 100% occupancy

Work on the two and a half storey mid-range venue has already begun after planning permission was granted in March and financing, in the form of a £6.5m package from the Royal Bank of Scotland, was secured.

Oil and gas​

The Glasgow-based company has the management contract for the first ten years of the hotel which will largely accommodate oil and gas workers at the new Total gas plant at Sullom Voe.

In an occupancy agreement with the energy firm, BDL Management has a guaranteed 100 per cent occupancy rate for the first year of the hotel's operation plus near-total occupancy for most of the rooms for the next six years.

"We are delighted to have been awarded this contract to build a new hotel on Shetland which will be a fantastic addition to our portfolio," Stuart McCaffer, vice chairman of BDL Shetland, said.

The hotel management firm recently revealed it had won more than £3m of new contracts in the last six months and aimed to grow its portfolio of hotels to 75 by 2014​.

New builds​

Local authority-owned land on an estate on the local road to nearby Scatsta is being used to build the new hotel. The venue will be constructed from materials designed to withstand the local weather conditions and the build will be 'sympathetic' to the surrounding environment.

The project is expected to create around 30 jobs locally plus the potential for another 10 housekeeping roles.

BDL Management was founded in 1997 with the purpose of managing new build, branded hotels.

Other hotel projects in the BDL Management pipeline include:​

• A new build 210-bedroom Crowne Plaza on a brownfield site next to the ExCeL Centre in the London Docklands area.
• A 112-bedroom Ramada Encore hotel in Derby.
• A 60-bedroom extension to the existing 1009-bedroom Holiday Inn Express in Milton Keynes.
• A major refurb of The Landmark hotel in Dundee to create a 'luxury hotel'.