Balfour Beatty and its partners have held a ground-breaking ceremony marking the start of works to regenerate 7.6 acres of the Greenwich Peninsula in London with a prestigious hotel and residential scheme.
The centerpiece of the development being carried out for Grove Developments Limited will be ‘The InterContinental London The O2’, a 19-storey, 452-room five-star hotel.
Containing a massive 4,800 sq metres of space for conferences and events and Europe’s largest pillar-free ballroom, the hotel will also offer leisure facilities including a health spa, several restaurants and a panoramic Sky Bar offering magnificent views of Canary Wharf and the River Thames.
The hotel will be designed to be sustainable to BREEAM ‘Excellent’ standards and will be built on land reclaimed from previously polluted soil. The hotel will have the latest sustainable features such as ‘green’ roofs and surrounds which will harvest water to reduce demand on the mains supply.
Construction will be carried out in just two years, helped by innovative building techniques. For example, the hotel and apartment bathrooms will be constructed off-site as individual modules before being installed on-site and pre-cast piling will save time in construction as well as reducing environmental impacts compared to traditional methods.
The site is ideally located for business guests and tourists visiting the capital and offers excellent transport links being situated 400 metres from North Greenwich tube station or a 15 minute journey to London City Airport, while visitors can also use the conveniently located ferry links or the Emirates Airline cable car to get to central London.
The development will also include The Peninsula Tower, a 23 storey development offering 100 serviced apartments with grand views of the Thames and South London. The project is being funded by the Queensgate Investment Fund.
The scheme is a component of the Greenwich Peninsular redevelopment which is turning the Greenwich Peninsular into a key part of London’s commercial landscape and when complete will provide 190 acres of new business, leisure and living space including over 10,000 new homes. The development is expected to employ around 350 people during construction and up to 650 when it is complete. The project will be delivered in summer 2015.
Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, said: “I warmly welcome the proposal to bring this prestigious development to London. The project demonstrates great confidence in the city and will be a significant addition to the legacy East London is seeing following the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Integral to London’s success in attracting visitors is the range of excellent hotels London has to offer – the hotel would be a fantastic addition to the capital, and would bring substantial benefits for visitors to The O2 and the wider area, as well as securing additional benefits to the local economy and enhance the area’s reputation as a key visitor destination. I wish you the best of luck with the project.”
Surinder Arora, Founder and Chief Executive of Arora, said: “I am delighted to be involved in such a high profile scheme in a fantastic location next to The O2 offering a unique marketing and events opportunity. Working alongside excellent partners, this development will add high quality accommodation and conference inventory to a vibrant part of London which has recently been exposed to the world stage with the summer 2012 London Olympics. The hotel's 3,000 sq metres open plan ballroom, the largest in Europe, with pre-function space enjoying panoramic views of the Thames and Canary Wharf, will complement The O2 and soon become established as one of the world’s pre-eminent venues, enabling the UK to compete with other destinations to attract conferences, meetings and events to our shores and to this increasingly strategically important part of London".
Mike Peasland, Managing Director, Balfour Beatty (Regional), said: “We are very pleased to have been given the opportunity to develop a scheme which will drive regeneration and growth in the UK.
“Sustainability is a key part of our offering on this project and we are using our expertise not only to reclaim a previously contaminated site but to build a hotel which uses the natural environment to provide part of its energy”.
Jason Kow, Chief Executive of Queensgate Investments LLP, said: "The transaction underlines our strategy to pursue opportunities with downside protection, partnerships with premier operating partners, and transactions with multiple value creation angles. We have immense respect for the Arora team and consider them to have one of the UK’s leading hotel management platforms. We look forward to working with our private investors and the Arora management team to collectively build a highly successful landmark scheme."
Robert Shepherd, Chief Development Officer for the InterContinental Hotels Group (Europe), said: “We’re delighted to be breaking ground today on another InterContinental hotel for London. We look forward to InterContinental London The O2 sharing in the future success of its sister hotels, including the recently opened InterContinental London Westminster and InterContinental Marseilles Hotel Dieu. The recent sale of the InterContinental London Park Lane and the soon to be open InterContinental Davos Resort and Spa is a testament to the brand’s growth globally and its attractiveness as an icon of luxury.”
Jay Marciano, President and CEO of AEG Europe (owners of The O2), said: “On behalf of AEG Europe and The O2, we are delighted to be taking the first steps in the latest project at The O2. We believe the development of the luxury hotel, conference centre and serviced apartments is a strong endorsement of the progress we have made in further establishing The O2 as the UK’s leading entertainment destination. We are confident this new offering will delight entertainment consumers from around the world.”
