The City of London Corporation’s Planning and Transportation Committee has approved plans for a new hotel development at Boundary House, 7-17 Jewry Street. Sitting across two levels, the higher block facing onto Jewry Street will be 15 storeys and the lower block facing onto Carlisle Avenue will stand at eight storeys. The Ploberger Hotel Group (RP Assets Limited) scheme will contribute to the City’s leisure and tourism offer – with 311 hotel rooms, alongside a café/bar on the ground floor and a rooftop restaurant, both open to the public.
The City Corporation recently announced a bold new vision for the future of the Square Mile – Destination City – to ensure it remains a world-leading location for UK and international visitors, workers and residents to enjoy. The development will also house a co-working space – with free and discounted use of podcasting studios, meeting rooms and event spaces offered for community and educational purposes – as well as proposals for a cultural hub.
The hotel will have step-free access with an accessible car parking bay. To reduce the carbon impact of the scheme, the development will retain part of the existing basement and ground floor levels, including partial reuse of floor slab, columns and foundations. Targeting a BREEAM sustainability rating of ‘Excellent’, the development will achieve a 54% reduction in operational carbon emissions. Urban greening and the creation of new habitats at roof level will promote biodiversity.
Chairman of the Planning and Transportation Committee, Shravan Joshi, said: “Attracting UK and international visitors with a vibrant leisure and tourism offer is at the heart of the City’s recovery. We also want to provide flexible spaces for SMEs, start-ups and community and cultural uses, complementing our world-class financial and professional services sector. Sustainability has been a core consideration of this scheme, which will boost tourism and provide a boutique co-working space to meet the changing needs of businesses.”
A spokesperson for the Ploberger Hotel Group (RP Assets Limited) said: “We are excited by the potential of Boundary House to help re-imagine this part of the City as a more sustainable and vibrant place of economic and social activity, and deliver on the City Corporation’s aspirations for a truly 24/7 City. We have worked closely with the City Corporation to ensure that our proposals have community at its heart and can bring something fresh and innovative to the Square Mile. The flexible cultural hub will contain both co-working floorspace, event space and podcast studios, representing a wide-ranging offer to the local community and our hotel guests alike.”
