Whitbread wraps up 2025 with planning consent at Dorset House, SE1
Planning permission for the conversion of the 90,000 sq ft office brings hub by Premier Inn a step closer to London’s World-Famous South Bank Whitbread, the parent company to Premier Inn, the UK’s largest hotel business, has successfully secured planning permission to convert Dorset House, a former office building on Stamford Street in Southwark (SE1), into a 421-key hub by Premier Inn. The permission rounds off an especially active 2025 for the business in Central London where it has acquired four development sites for its Premier Inn and hub by Premier Inn brands since January 2025. Collectively, the four locations add close to 1,000 bedrooms – and more than 262,000 sq ft of development space – into Whitbread’s secured development pipeline in the capital. Dorset House brings the hub by Premier Inn brand south of the River Thames for the very first time at a location that boasts Waterloo Station, Blackfriars Station, London’s South Bank and the Royal Festival Hall within a ten-minute walking distance. Whitbread acquired the 90,000 sq ft building freehold in May [2025] and quickly began conversations with Southwark Council on the change of use of the nine-storey vacant office into a hub by Premier Inn hotel. The intention is to add the compact hub bedrooms within the existing floorplate and introduce a new hotel entrance on Stamford Street, with the basement-level F&B space visible through cut-out concrete sections on the ground-floor. Construction work is expected to begin in the second half of 2026 with a target date for opening in summer 2028. Jonathan Langdon, Senior Acquisition Manager for Whitbread, said: “Whitbread’s reliable and affordable hotels are ingrained in London life and we’re taking full advantage of opportunities to expand our network further for our guests. “The buildings we have acquired in 2025 bring four outstanding hotel locations into our secured pipeline in places where we are either not yet represented or are responding to strong, year-round demand from our customers. “All four acquisitions demonstrate Whitbread’s ability to spot and convert excellent opportunities to grow our business, deploy capital strategically, and work through planning risks to successfully grow our estate. “Achieving planning permission at Dorset House rounds off an especially active period for Whitbread’s Central London team in 2025, and we are moving quickly to progress our pipeline hotels into construction and onto trading as soon as possible.” Reflecting wider changes in the demand for office properties across the UK, all of Whitbread’s property acquisitions in Central London are office-to-hotel conversions. They include: Collectively the acquisitions total more than £100 million of direct investment. All the new hotels will be powered solely by electricity generated from renewable sources in line with Whitbread’s sustainability programme, Force For Good. Whitbread’s London hotels represent 18% of the company’s c. 86,000 bedroom-strong network in the UK & Ireland and an important growth market for both brands as the company works to expand its hotel estate by 45% to a long-term potential target of 125,000 UK&I rooms. Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
McLaren Construction Midlands and North appointed to deliver Upper Brook Street student scheme in Manchester
McLaren Property, the leading residential and student accommodation developer, have formally appointed McLaren Construction Midlands and North as main contractor for the landmark Upper Brook Street student accommodation development in Manchester. The project marks the second major scheme in the city where the two McLaren divisions are collaborating, following their successful partnership on St Gabriels Court. Early works have been progressing at pace, with both tower cranes now fully installed onsite. Ground clearance and preparation works are complete, alongside the installation of temporary site facilities. Piling has also concluded with 219 piles installed and concrete bases formed to support the two new residential buildings and cranes. The team aims to have slip-form rigs assembled before the Christmas period, enabling the concrete frame to commence early in the new year. McLaren Property’s £160m Upper Brook Street development will be forward funded by L&G, a leading direct investor, lender, developer, and operator in residential real estate, with the partnership delivering the purpose-built student accommodation scheme, comprising c.272,854 sq ft across two buildings of 9-storey and 23-storeys, totalling 737 student bedspaces (288 studios and 449 cluster bedrooms) along with a range of shared amenities including a gym, fitness studio and collaborative study and social spaces. Upper Brook Street is just south-east of Manchester city centre, near the Russell Group’s University of Manchester and is part of the Oxford Road Corridor. It is widely acknowledged as a growing hub for students and research. The new student accommodation building will include a community facility, café and new accessible public realm with new trees, and a commitment to achieve high levels of sustainability to include BREEAM excellent, EPC A and Platinum Wired Score ratings. Extensive hard and soft landscaping will create new public realm for residents and the surrounding community. Modern methods of construction will play a central role in the build, and the project incorporates a full concrete frame with fully unitised prefabricated concrete panels, complete with integrated brickwork and windows to drive efficiency and quality. Bathroom pods manufactured off-site by Walker Modular will further streamline delivery. The project is targeting BREEAM Excellent and an EPC A rating, with completion set in time for the 2028 academic year. Alongside its technical and environmental ambitions, the scheme places strong emphasis on social value and the project team is partnering with local community groups and the Salvation Army to deliver initiatives that exceed contractual social value commitments. Luke Arnold, Regional Director at McLaren Construction Midlands and North, said: “We are delighted to be appointed to deliver this important scheme in the heart of Manchester. Upper Brook Street represents not only a significant investment in the city’s student living offer but also an opportunity to showcase high-quality construction, modern methods of delivery, and meaningful social value.” David Atherton, Divisional Managing Director at McLaren Property, said: “This is the second project we are delivering alongside McLaren Construction in Manchester. We are excited to bring forward another best-in-class student accommodation development, adding to our strong pipeline across the UK. As we move into the delivery phrase, all those involved in the project are fully focused on completing an exemplary building, one that the McLaren teams and the city can be very proud of.” Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
Arlington Real Estate and Homes England Submit Plans for £400m West Hartford Park Employment Hub
A major planning application has been lodged for West Hartford Park, a 126-acre industrial and commercial scheme near Cramlington that could deliver more than one million square feet of employment space and create around 2,000 jobs in Northumberland. The outline masterplan has been submitted jointly by Arlington Real Estate and Homes England, marking a significant step forward for one of the largest strategic development opportunities in the region. Located just minutes from the deep-sea Port of Blyth, the proposed development is designed to support the port’s continued expansion and forms a key component of the Energy Central Partnership. This initiative positions South East Northumberland as a national centre for offshore and renewable energy, clean technology, advanced manufacturing and AI-driven industries. The Port of Blyth, home to ORE Catapult’s world-leading testing facilities, is working closely with Arlington Real Estate and Homes England to maximise the economic potential of the scheme and attract major occupiers from both the UK and overseas. Despite the marketing campaign not yet being launched, the project has already generated strong interest from several large-scale industrial and logistics businesses. If approved, West Hartford Park is expected to generate over £400m of investment for the North East economy and deliver thousands of high-quality jobs, providing a major boost to local supply chains and long-term regional growth. Dean Cook, managing director of Arlington Real Estate, said submitting the application marks an important milestone in unlocking the site’s full potential. He highlighted that West Hartford Park is the only location in the region capable of accommodating development at this scale, offering the power, infrastructure and connectivity required by major occupiers. Cook added that the project will directly support the growth of offshore and renewable energy, advanced manufacturing, logistics and AI sectors. Councillor Richard Wearmouth, deputy leader of Northumberland County Council and cabinet member for business, growth and regeneration, welcomed the news, describing West Hartford Park as the county’s most significant remaining employment allocation in the current local plan. He said maximising its potential is crucial to attracting future investment and creating new job opportunities in the area. Martin Lawlor OBE, chief executive of the Port of Blyth, added that the partnership approach will help bring forward much-needed capacity for port-related development while acting as a catalyst for broader economic growth across the region. The submission of the planning application marks the start of the next phase in bringing West Hartford Park to fruition, with the scheme set to play a central role in strengthening Northumberland’s position within the UK’s energy and advanced manufacturing landscape. Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
Property Trust Group and Staycity Start Work with Gilbert Ash on £120m Wilde Aparthotel in Shoreditch
Construction has officially begun on a £120m Wilde aparthotel in Shoreditch, as Gilbert Ash breaks ground on the major London development for Dublin-based Staycity Group and The Property Trust Group. Located at 19 Great Eastern Road, the 11-storey scheme is set to become Staycity’s largest Wilde-branded property in the capital and its fifth within Zone 1. WT Partnership is acting as project manager, with completion scheduled for May 2027. The new aparthotel will provide 275 studio and one-bedroom units, each designed with self-catering layouts to support longer stays and flexibility for guests. The development will also feature an extensive range of amenities including a restaurant, café-bar and cocktail lounge, communal dining areas, a fitness room and a guest laundry. A biodiverse roof will crown the building, contributing environmental benefits and supporting local ecology. The Wilde brand, inspired by the spirit and style of Oscar Wilde, debuted in Covent Garden in 2018 and has since expanded across major European cities including Berlin, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Lisbon, London, Manchester and Vienna. Further openings in Amsterdam and Porto are already planned as the brand continues its rapid growth. The Shoreditch project marks another significant step in Staycity’s ambition to expand its presence across key urban centres, while reinforcing The Property Trust Group’s commitment to delivering high-quality hospitality developments in prime city locations. Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
Project starts uptick brings some festive cheer to UK construction
Glenigan Review sees UK construction activity slowly reasserting itself as the year draws to a close. Today, Glenigan | Powered by Hubexo (Glenigan), one of the construction industry’s leading insight and intelligence experts, releases the December 2025 edition of its Construction Review. The Review focuses on the three months to the end of November 2025, covering all major (>£100m) and underlying (<£100m) projects, with all underlying figures seasonally adjusted. It’s a report providing a detailed and comprehensive analysis of year-on-year construction data, giving built environment professionals a unique insight into sector performance over the past year. Moving (slowly) in the right direction The December Review indicates that UK construction is starting to take slow steps along the road to recovery, reflecting predictions Glenigan recently made in its latest industry Forecast. Despite starting out from a lower position than December 2024, with project start performance considerably down (-29%), a 14% increase compared to the previous three months to the end of November will provide some festive cheer to counter any new year fears. The news will come as a relief to contractors and subcontractors alike, following a torrid six months punctuated by policy flip-flopping and a case of acute socio-economic hiccups. This small glimmer of hope should be approached with cautious optimism as elsewhere the project pipeline remains considerably dry. Main contract awards fell by a quarter (-26%) year-on-year and dropped by 10% during the Review Period. Similarly, detailed planning approvals were down by 9% against the preceding three months and by 26% compared with 2024 figures. According to Glenigan’s Economics Director, Allan Wilen, “The currently tempestuous economic conditions are making it difficult for the construction sector to get out of first gear, where it seems to have been stuck throughout the second half of 2025. Hopefully the Chancellor’s recent Budget Statement will have gone some way to providing clarity around future funding, ending a period of weathervane politics in which potential property and tax policies were floated across the market, denting both consumer and private investor confidence. Now we know the intended direction of travel, hopefully the industry can get back on track.” He continues, “However, it’s not going to be an easy task, requiring a considerable amount of work commencing, contracts awarded, and planning approvals rubber-stamped before the end of this financial year if our predicted recovery is going to come to fruition. In the here and now though, this revival probably seems far on the horizon with performance remaining depressed. A modest lift in starts activity over the Review Period has been largely driven by an extraordinary surge in underlying office construction. Elsewhere, minimum wage increases are driving up retailing and hospitality labour costs. This has led to pauses and delays as businesses look to rebalance budgets and re-evaluate resources, deterring investment in retail and hotel & leisure projects. As we look ahead to Q.1 2026, the Chancellor will need to make good on her £120 billion infrastructure pledge, putting the pedal to the metal to get the sector motoring once more.” Taking a closer look at some of the Review highlights… Let’s hear it for the office outliers In a bleak midwinter for most of the industry, the offices vertical has basked in the warming afterburn of skyrocketing performance. Activity is incredibly healthy with a 161% increase in project starts, as well as a 60% rise in detailed planning approvals year-on-year. This growth can be attributed to a number of different factors, including the insatiable demand for data centres (grouped within the office vertical), responding to consumer and businesses’ ravenous appetite for digital technology and a growing reliance on AI. Regionally, the East Midlands, London, the North East and the South East experienced a strong period of growth. The Capital posted the highest share of project starts during the Review Period (+80%), largely thanks to a 184% starts increase boosted by the £800 million Project Vista Development in Lambeth. Wales was responsible for the impressive leap in planning approvals, with the value of consents jumping more than 40 times year-on-year. This was predominantly the result of the green light being given to a £5 billion CWL41 data centre development in Bridgend. A growing sense of community The community and amenity vertical also experienced an exceptionally robust Review Period, with project starts and main contract awards up year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter to boot. That wasn’t all, detailed planning approvals grew in the preceding three months and were only 1% lower than 2024 figures. Major projects had a relatively sunny season with increases recorded across all three contract stages compared to last year and the previous three months. This growth spurt was mainly driven by a 198% year-on-year growth in the prisons sub-category, particularly the £713 million HMP Welland Oaks in Leicestershire. Unsurprisingly, this also meant that, regionally, the East Midlands accounted for the highest share of project starts in this vertical. London and the South East also showed impressive scores, once again spurred by penal facilities development, especially the £300 million HMP Grendon Underwood development in Aylesbury. Preparing for a civils ceremony Whilst civils experienced significant declines in main contract awards during the Review Period (-64%) compared to the prior three months, with the value of detailed planning approvals slashed in half compared to last year (-50%), it witnessed a major boost in project starts (up 118% against the preceding three months). The 2025 Autumn Budget provided a much-anticipated shot in the arm for civil engineering, with expanded regional infrastructure and accelerated transport investment earmarked by the Chancellor. The devolved £13 billion for the metro mayors will be welcomed across all quarters of the vertical, alongside more capital allocation for highways maintenance. This will likely strengthen activity for local road, transport, and utility projects, sparking the future growth Glenigan has predicted in 2026 and 2027. Roads, energy, and harbour/ports accounted for the lion’s share of activity, with performance in the latter up a dizzying 267% year-on-year. Regionally, the East of England was the most active, project-starts wise. London
Railpen Secures Secretary of State Approval for £1bn Cambridge Beehive Innovation Park
Railpen has received a major boost for its ambition to transform the Beehive site in Cambridge, after the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, the Rt Hon Steve Reed OBE, approved its plans for a 1 million sq ft mixed-use, lab-led innovation district. Currently operating as a retail park, the Beehive site will be reimagined as a world-class research and technology hub. Railpen’s proposals include flexible workspace for science and technology companies, high-specification laboratories, a new community park, a youth and community hub, a science centre, and around 20 new shops, cafés and restaurants. The scheme places strong emphasis on accessibility and sustainability, supported by significant public transport upgrades designed to remove more than 10,000 car journeys from local roads. Railpen has said the development will deliver substantial economic benefits to Cambridge and the wider region, including a projected £600m uplift in gross value added, increased tax revenues, and expanded employment opportunities. The decision also enables improvements to the neighbouring Cambridge Retail Park, where Railpen has already begun a programme of upgrades intended to enhance the experience for retailers and visitors. The first phase has recently completed with the opening of a new Starbucks. Andy Bord, chief executive officer of Railpen, welcomed the Secretary of State’s decision, describing it as a recognition of the merits and appropriateness of the Beehive proposals. He noted that the approval represents a major milestone for the Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor and reflects sustained international confidence in the UK’s business environment. Bord said Railpen remains committed to delivering its Innovation Cluster vision in Cambridge and will continue to work closely with local partners to ensure the scheme contributes meaningfully to the city’s long-term economic and social prosperity. The Beehive development forms part of Railpen’s wider Innovation Cluster in Cambridge, a portfolio of 11 assets totalling 1.9 million sq ft and designed to meet evolving occupier demands across life sciences, technology and research sectors. Other assets in the cluster include the recently consented 230 Newmarket Road; Mill Yard, a 180,000 sq ft mixed-use campus completing in Q1 2027; Botanic Place, a 325,000 sq ft headquarters development due in Q1 2028; and Railpen’s proposed 112,000 sq ft Grade A office building. With central government backing now secured, Railpen’s Beehive scheme is set to play a significant role in shaping the next phase of Cambridge’s innovation landscape. Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals