PH Hotels acquires Liverpool property
Leading hotel and conference centre provider Principal Hayley Group has acquired Liverpool’s historic Martins Bank building.
The company is set to convert the Grade II-listed property into a luxury 227-key hotel with spa, bar and fine dining restaurant. Work will start in 2016, with a potential opening in late 2017 or early 2018.
Castlewood Securities, which has owned the Martins Bank building for 20 years, has been acquired by Principal Hayley Group Hotels in the deal. Castlewood has obtained full planning and Listed Building consent for the proposed development.
The development represents an investment commitment to Liverpool of nearly £50m. It will lead to the creation of over 200 long-term jobs and about 350 construction jobs over the next two years.
Designed by noted architect Herbert James Rowse and completed in 1932, Martins Bank is considered to be among the finest neo-classical buildings built during the interwar period. Further, much of the country’s gold reserve was secretly transferred to the building at the start of the Second World War in order to hide it from a feared Nazi invasion. A plaque outside the building commemorates the operation, which was dramatized by the Emmy-winning film The Bullion Boys.
Joe Anderson OBE, Mayor of Liverpool, said the scheme would be a landmark development for the city and was a signal of its growing reputation as a global tourist destination and as a centre for exhibitions and conventions.
The acquisition follows a wider £100m strategic repositioning of Principal Hayley Group’s iconic city-centre properties. The Royal York Hotel in York and The George Hotel in Edinburgh have both recently reopened following extensive renovations.
An additional multi-million-pound investment is planned for Principal Hayley Group’s manor-house conference properties in 2016.
Mayor Anderson said: “I’m pleased to see these new and ambitious plans for bringing another iconic Liverpool building back into use. It is an important landmark in the city’s business district and its conversion to a destination hotel reflects the continuing strength of the city’s visitor economy. I welcome the new investment by Principal Hayley and look forward to seeing progress during 2016.”
Bernard Byrne, CEO of Castlewood Securities, the owner of Martins Bank building for nearly 20 years, said: “We are delighted to see our vision of converting Martins Bank into Liverpool’s first truly luxury upscale hotel, incorporating a destination spa and amazing leisure and fine dining facilities, being realised.
Tony Troy, Principal Hayley Group’s CEO, added: “The Martins Bank building provides us with a strategically important presence in the heart of the Liverpool market, where there is a clear consumer need for a full-service luxury hotel and events space.
“Liverpool’s astonishing transformation over the last decade has seen it become one of Europe’s most important exhibition and convention centres as well as one of the most visited cities by tourists. Our development will become the jewel in the crown of Liverpool’s hotel offering.
“We are delighted to be working in partnership with the city to bring this plan to fruition and we will be working very closely with heritage experts to ensure our conversion of the building is sympathetic to its unique historic and architectural features.
“Following a very successful year in 2015, we are looking forward to undertaking the redevelopment of this wonderful building – together with the development of our other key city centre ‘grand-dame’ hotels – and to sharing our exciting plans for the future.”
