Burgh Island Hotel to tackle 'lack of affordable housing' with 27 new rooms for staff
The art deco hotel, which was built as a monument to the Roaring ‘20s, is located on a private tidal island off the coast of south Devon. Its sits opposite the village of Bigbury-on-Sea, where the average property price exceeds £418,000, according to the latest Land Registry figures.
Providing affordable accommodation has therefore been identified as a necessary step for the hotel to gain and retain the best possible staff, according to the hotel’s owners.
“We are pleased to announce these plans to provide affordable accommodation for our staff, who quite simply cannot afford to rent in the area, nor can they afford to buy, given the landscape of the local property market,” says Giles Fuchs, Burgh Island Hotel owner.
“We are eager to ensure that the hotel remains a sustainable venture, and we are extremely keen to support our staff, so the building of this accommodation is a sound investment that will yield considerable benefits in future for them, our guests and the local community.”
As well as building 27 new rooms for staff across the island and the mainland, the plans also include a new café.
Construction of the new staff accommodation forms part of an £8m development plan required for the hotel’s upkeep that include a sustainability strategy to future-proof a low carbon future for its operations. These include the installation of run-around coil heat exchangers, which will use surplus heat generated in the kitchen to maintain a comfortable temperature in the dining areas.
“Burgh Island Hotel has a legacy of adapting to meet the changing needs of its various custodians and visitors and these well-considered, design-led proposals represent the next chapter in its evolution,” says Jonathan Finch, associate director at Avalon Planning.
“These exciting proposals will secure a sustainable future, in all senses of the word, for this much-loved local and national asset while continuing to respect its distinctive and unique relationship between architectural form and the natural and coastal landscape.”
