Evening Times, exclusive by Vivienne Nicol
Earlier this year, the Evening Times revealed the former
Albany Hotel in Bothwell Street would be flattened to make way for
the £140million Bothwell Plaza project.
The demolition of the Albany, which opened in 1973 and has
latterly been operating as a Holiday Inn, marks the end of one of
the city's oldest chain hotels.
In its place, Aberdeen-based hotel owner European Development
Company (EDC) plans to build a four-star Crowne Plaza, with 300
bedrooms, a three-star Express by Holiday Inn, with 275 bedrooms, a
14-storey office block and a top restaurant.
The Bothwell Plaza building will also feature a brasserie,
two-floor piano bar, luxury spa, health and fitness facilities and
conference centre.
The office block, which will front on to Douglas Street, will
have around 150,000sq ft of space, with a cafe/bar and coffee shop
on the ground floor.
The development will also open up views of the dramatic
Alexander Greek Thomson church, used by the congregation of St
Vincent Street Free Church.
Glasgow architects SMC Jenkins and Marr have designed the two
hotels and offices, which will be built around a European-style
plaza offering lunchtime orchestral recitals, fashion shows and
other outdoor activities.
With more than £1m invested in lighting for the building, EDC
hopes to create a development which will be a first for
Scotland.
EDC director Ivor Finnie said: "We want to light the whole of
this development in a way that has never been seen in Scotland and
indeed very infrequently in the UK.
"The best example of this can be seen at the Centre Building in
Hong Kong and the Burj Al Arab Hotel in Dubai."
Bulldozers have already started demolishing the existing Holiday
Inn City West to make way for the complex.
The Albany was a famous fixture on the Glasgow social scene for
decades and for several years was regarded as the city's top
hotel.
Mr Finnie said he hoped the new development would retain the
same charm.
He said: "We know how popular the Albany was as a venue for
local people and for visitors to Glasgow.
"What we are planning is a completely new development that will
carry with it the charm and attraction of the Albany to provide a
first-class hotel and conference centre for Glasgow, Scotland and
the UK."
It's estimated the development will create 250 hotel jobs, 1800
office jobs and around 1000 construction jobs.
The Crowne Plaza, which will be in addition to that chain's
existing hotel at the SECC, will have a whole floor of meeting
rooms and a purpose-built function suite, making it the largest
hotel facility in Glasgow, catering for up to 1400 people.
The offices are among the largest planned in the city and
developers say they will be five-star standard.
Building work is due to start at the end of this year, with the
new Plaza to be completed by spring 2010.
The hotels would become EDC's first in Glasgow. The firm also
owns two Holiday Inns and one Express by Holiday Inn in Aberdeen
and an Express by Holiday Inn in Edinburgh.
Intercontinental Hotels is behind the famous brands Holiday Inn
and Crowne Plaza but has moved to a greater focus on managing or
franchising hotels rather than owning them.
STEVE Inch, city council executive director of development and
regeneration, said: "The hotel site is considered to be
under-developed given its city centre location and the density of
development in the area.
"The development will add to the city's offices and hotels and
is in line with the council's own regeneration policy for the city
centre."
The council owns the land for the new building and on Friday
councillors will be asked to agree a substantial increase in the
rent charged.
EDC is expected to lodge a planning application for the project
within the next week.
Reproduced with the permission of the Evening
Times (Glasgow) © Newsquest (Herald & Times) Ltd.