Portland Crescent Hotel | App | 45m | 14fl

[Rob]

I think it's time this had its own thread.



Announced in March 2009 at MIPIM, planning approval secured earlier in the year, and reportedly keen to start in 2009 to complete in 2011, it would be great to see this £31m project make a start this year. It will also fill a gap in the street scape in that area, making an impressive run of medium tall buildings in that part of Woodhouse Lane.

from the developer Oxford GB's website:

Combining the skills of GB Group Holdings and Oxford Hotel Projects to provide quality hotel developments, Oxford GB targets the underdeveloped upper-three star mid-market select service sector where there remains substantial demand... Planning Permission has recently been secured Oxford GB’s next hotel development at Portland Crescent, Leeds. Located in the heart of the City, this 244 bedroom flagship hotel lies sandwiched between Millennium Square, Leeds Metropolitan University and the recently announced £80m Concert Arena. Programmed to open late 2011, the hotel is perfectly timed to take advantage of business from the new Arena.

Latest info is from Construction News yesterday:

Leeds £12m commercial
3 Aug 2009

Plans approved
Hotel

Town:
Leeds

Stage:
Contract awarded

Source:
EMAP Glenigan.

Contact:
Portland Crescent Leeds Ltd: 01932 733 900

[tomd89]

Looks very......... heavy, but no grey plastic in sight so thumbs up from me.

[Leeds No.1]

I think it will be fine. There is a glass frontage at ground level so it won't feel too 'concretey'. It's skyline impact, despite being stone, could add to the concrete look of the northern part of the skyline. I hope some glass or steel is seen in the area to break it up.

[Immunda Leodis]

I think it looks quite rugged and I think that it will look good in that area as long as the cladding looks like stone rather than plastic.

[tigerman]

This looks great - lets hope it does start this year it would be nice to see something starting at last.

[Wharfman]

Originally Posted by Immunda Leodis

I think it looks quite rugged and I think that it will look good in that area as long as the cladding looks like stone rather than plastic.

It's a portland stone finish.

[wiggleyleeds]

this will be really nice, simply because it is stone, which has much more substance and city feel than glass and plastic clad. Just look at some of the most impressive modern buildings in leeds... like 1 city square

[Leeds No.1]

I agree- stone definitely has more 'mass' than glass/steel/plastic and looks like it has been built to last. I would second 1 City Square as an example, as well as 1 Park Row

[Stefan88]

I like the fact that they're using a durable and attractive material for the cladding rather than plastic but there is still something about it that I don't like. It just looks a bit too stumpy and fat.
It'll probably look a lot better than the render suggests but at the moment I don't like it. It'd be great if it was taller and would accompany Opal, Sky Plaza, Broadcasting Tower, Tower North and Leeds College of Technology. It'd be a good little cluster.

[wiggleyleeds]

yes, the render makes it look like a multi storey car-park

[rhinomatt]

needs to be at least 20st, other than that I like it.

[Rob]

Report in YEP today.

Leeds to get £30 million hotel



ON DRAWING BOARD: An artist’s impression of the new £30m luxury hotel which will be the closest one to the proposed new 12,500 seater Leeds Arena.

Published Date: 01 September 2009
By Debbie Leigh

Plans for a £30m upmarket hotel in the centre of Leeds have been given the green light.
Oxford GB has won planning permission from Leeds City Council to build the 244-bedroom venue on Portland Street, next to Leeds Metropolitan University's Rosebowl Business and Law faculty. It will be the closest hotel to the 12,500-seat concert arena planned to open in 2012.

The firm has not yet appointed a hotel operator but said there was already strong interest. It said once the operator was appointed the hotel was expected to take two years to build. Simon Wood, chairman of Oxford GB, said: "Hotel rooms in Leeds will be in high demand with the development of the 12,500-seat arena and the new University facility. "Oxford GB's aim is to provide a high-quality hotel, right where it is most needed."

Proposals for the project, on a 0.3 acre site previously owned by Leeds City Council, were unveiled at the MIPIM international property conference in France in March. It will be constructed by GB Building Solutions, which has won awards for mixed-use developments Echo One and Echo Two in Leeds. The firm is part of hotel development company Oxford GB, together with Oxford Hotel Projects Ltd, a specialist hotel property consultancy.

Leeds has a range of hotels, ranging from the Etap at around £32 a night, to upmarket Malmaison, around £150, and boutique hotel Quebecs, around £200. But Leeds Hotels Association has previously warned the industry had reached saturation point in the city. Chairman Gordon Jackson, general manager of the Thorpe Park Hotel at Colton, said: "It's not fantastic news but we have always known that because of the arena we were going to get a number of hotel developments springing up." He added: "At the moment it's not the easiest times for hotels but we are probably a couple of years away from this and we would hope we would have an upturn in business long before then."

The city's newest hotel is the 333-bedroom, 13-storey, City Inn at Granary Wharf, which boasts a stylish restaurant and Skylounge on the top floor, with panoramic views of the city. The Ellington, Leeds city centre's first five-star hotel, on York Place, closed in March just six months after opening. And Crispin House, a Grade II listed building on the corner of New York Road and Trafalgar Street, was set to be transformed into a luxury hotel and spa, expected to open in 2010 but plans fell through around five months ago. There is also competition for hoteliers from serviced apartments like Residence 6 and The Chambers.

[SirCWilson]

Originally Posted by YEP

It will be constructed by GB Building Solutions, which has won awards for mixed-use developments Echo One and Echo Two in Leeds.

Oh well.

[Racheleb2009]

Originally Posted by SirCWilson

Oh well.

Anyone know who the new architects are or when building is to commence. I know there are three architects in tender for this job but all seems to have gone really quiet. Can anyone help on this.

[di Livio]

An earlier design? (the website includes more images).
















http://thecollectivecgi.com/work/ima...-square-leeds/

[gothicform]

there, i just updated the image in skyscrapernews' archive to something much higher res

[Rob]

That's better, thanks.

[tomd89]

This will be great as long as those blocks are Portland Stone (Ala College of Technology) and not breeze blocks! (ala Unite Plaza phase 1)

[Dan B]

I'm guessing the title of 'Portland Crescent Hotel' is something of a hint.

[Leeds No.1]

Or perhaps that's more to do with the fact it's located on Portland Crescent?