McAleer & Rushe has completed a 303-bedroom Premier Inn at Stansted Airport for developer, Grove Developments, 14 weeks ahead of schedule.
The four-story hotel is now set to open on June 11, 2012 and will be trading well in advance of the Olympic Games. The £11.7 mln (approx. 14.47 mln) design-and-build contract was scheduled to run to a 54-week construction program but was completed in just 40 weeks.
The hotel, designed by Belfast-based architects Consarc Design Group, is built around an internal acoustic 'buffer zone' courtyard, with ground level car-parking for 180 vehicles.
McAleer & Rushe Construction Director Martin Magee said: "To deliver such a high-quality finish that incorporates the latest Premier Inn brand standards 14 weeks early is no mean achievement.
"This was a particularly demanding site so close to Stansted Airport and I would like to pay tribute to our construction team for delivering the site so early and also to thank Whitbread and Grove Developments for their clear brief and straight forward collaborative approach on the scheme.
"Those involved particularly deserve recognition for overcoming the difficulties of supplying utilities to the scheme in such a timely fashion."
Sinead Hughes, Head of Grove Developments, the development arm of Arora Hotels, added: "Working with McAleer & Rushe on our development pipeline has been very positive. McAleer & Rushe has consistently surpassed the targets we have set them, and not only have they delivered this hotel earlier than scheduled, they did the same at the new 400-bedroom Premier Inn at Heathrow Terminal 5, that opened in February this year.
"Both schemes were completed well ahead of schedule, within budget and finished to our very exacting standards."
Steve Hammond, Senior Project and Programme Manager at Whitbread hotels and restaurants, said: "Premier Inn is expanding aggressively as we respond to strong customer demand for our high-quality, affordable product and our customers' desire for more well-located Premier Inn hotels across the country.
"Our new Stansted hotel is another excellent site for us within minutes of the main terminal and mid-stay car-park and takes us a step closer to our target of increasing the 47,000 Premier Inn bedrooms we have currently to 65,000 by 2016. I look forward to getting the doors open and giving a premier welcome to our first guests later this summer."
Source: MJ2
