Willmott Dixon secures second project in a year with Queen Mary University of London
Latest project follows work to enlarge the Informatics and Technology Learning building in Bethnal Green
Willmott Dixon has increased its presence in the hotel sector with a £9.5m project to create a Holiday Inn on Commercial Road in Tower Hamlets, London.
The 133-bed hotel for Ark Properties Investment Ltd will be completed in March 2012, ready for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games that will see hundreds of thousands of people descend on the capital.
Willmott Dixon’s hotel sector manager Tim Wheeldon said, “Hotel brands like Holiday Inn are investing heavily in their estate to ensure they have the coverage and the quality guests want, especially when you factor in the forthcoming demand created by the Royal Wedding and the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
“We are delighted to be a partner in helping them achieve this and the Commercial Road project will provide excellent hotel accommodation close to the centre of London.”
Tim is aiming for Willmott Dixon’s construction, fit-out and refurbishment work in the hotel sector to deliver a turnover of £75 million in two years, and this will be helped by taking a proactive approach to providing solutions for hoteliers, hotel groups and developers seeking seed corn investment to get projects through planning.
Kirk Kinsell president, Europe Middle East and Africa, InterContinental Hotels Group said: “Holiday Inn is the official hotel provider to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. As a sponsor we recognise that a big focus for The Games is the regeneration of east London and this hotel will help to be part of that legacy.”
Holiday Inn has just undergone the biggest re-launch in the hospitality industry with a £650 million investment across more than 3,400 hotels worldwide.
Willmott Dixon has recently constructed the Holiday Inn hotel in Thames Ditton and the Holiday Inn Express at Epsom Racecourse. In addition, other recent hotels constructed by Willmott Dixon include Travelodge’s in Chichester and Cardiff, which opened in December and February respectively.
Due to the increased growth in the hotel sector work, Willmott Dixon has also set up a dedicated hotel team at its Coleshill office in Birmingham, where it is working with a number of investors and operators to provide the impetus needed to get projects started.
The Midlands hotel team is headed up by Nick Gibb, pre-construction director for Willmott Dixon in the region. Nick said, “We are looking to help partners unlock their hotel opportunities by bringing other parties to the table that provide land and investment. We are no longer prepared to wait for these things to happen when we can make them happen ourselves.”