Consultation open on North Wales adventure hotel
Architect Ellis Williams has submitted a pre-planning application for an adventure-themed hotel on behalf of outdoor activity operator Zip World. The scheme is intended for a site to the south of Llanrwst in Conwy County Borough, close to Snowdonia National Park.
The plans for the 75-room, four-star hotel include a giant slide through the centre arriving within the ground floor reception and cafe/bar, an external climbing wall, virtual reality pods and underground subterranean caves. A pool on the top floor stretches out above the central atrium with accompanying saunas that feature extensive views down the valley.
Zip World operates from three locations in North Wales, which has in recent years made a major push in adrenaline sports tourism.
A public consultation was launched on Monday and will run until 10 July. A drop-in community consultation event will be held at the Eagles Hotel, Llanrwst tomorrow between 11am and 2pm.
Following the completion of consultation, a planning application will be submitted to Conwy Council with construction proposed to start in 2018.
Design buildings that synergise with the natural environment and historic architecture of these iconic places in North Wales or risk introducing another blemish on the face of North Wales landscape. This building looks like a giant office block. It might have a place amongst a modern urban environment, but how does it strike a balance with the Conwy Valley? This is an insult to the people of the locality and to those tourists who come here to relish the beauty of Snowdonia and its peripheral landscapes. Snowdonia is fast becoming a retrofitted Disney Park. First and foremost it is a landscape and park of exceptional natural beauty. Beauty that is seemingly at increased risk from companies wishing to make a fast buck with a lack of regard for the impacts, particularly visial ones, that potentially ensue due to a lack of empathy and sensitivity towards the local surroundings. If architects and planners allow such developments to puncture these rich landscapes and become beacons of insensitive development focussed on commercially driven ideals, they themselves will be viewed as the Mickey Mouse practitioners by those who recognise natural North Wales assets as the primary elements to sustain economic gain and world appeal.
By George