Premcor reworks Keswick hotel project
Refreshed plans by developer Premcor for a 71-bedroom Premier Inn hotel have been submitted to the Lake District National Park Authority.
The £6m proposal has been designed by the Harris Partnership, with Walsingham Planning engaged as consultant. Premcor is headed by ex-Urban & Civic directors Rob Lane and Simon Hawkins.
The site lies just outside the town centre and Keswick conservation area, close to Greta Bridge on High Hill. The proposal includes 29 parking spaces to the rear of the hotel. The site is currently vacant, and formerly housed the Ravensfield residential care home, which closed in 2014. Manor Care Home Group secured planning consent for a replacement facility on the site.
Documents filed with Premcor’s application state: “The proposed hotel will provide a different style of accommodation to what is currently available in Keswick. We believe that it will increase choice for visitors and complement the many excellent independent guest houses, B&Bs and holiday lets already established in the town.”
Plans were initially filed in February, following a consultation process, but have been adjusted in response to further feedback. Dozens of objections were made, with various correspondents to the LDNPA citing grounds including building height, obstruction of views and flood risk. The site cannot be used for residential due to flood risk, however hotels are allowable and there are no guest rooms planned at ground level.
Key points of the latest iteration of the scheme include a redesign of the front and rear elevations, lowering the building’s height to three storeys throughout, and using a greater mix of materials including Lakeland stone, render, slate and sections of metal seam cladding. Following these tweaks, the proposal is just 75cm taller than the care home previously consented at the site, the developer said.
Premcor is also behind a hotel project in Manchester, where it has lodged plans for a 229-bedroom hotel on Rochdale Road, a site it bought from Realty Estates.
