New boutique hotel for Leicester city centre
A new boutique hotel is set to open in Leicester near to the site of the car park where Richard III’s remains were discovered.
Construction company Stepnell has secured a contract to build the £1.8m St Martins Lodge for the Dioecse of Leicester. It will see two empty buildings in Peacock Lane and New Street converted into a 28-bedroom hotel.
St Martins Lodge is expected to be completed in summer 2018. As well as being used by tourists and other visitors, it will also create accommodation available to people using the nearby St Martins House conference centre.
Leicestershire architectural practice Corporate Architecture designed the scheme.
The chair of the Glebe Committee, which purchased the land, David Beeson, said: “We have been hoping to add local, high-class accommodation to the Glebe portfolio for some time now, and the ideal opportunity has been presented. There are significant synergies which tie the cultural, business and spiritual operations together and we can capitalise on both the King Richard lll tourism and users of the cathedral.”
“This project will deliver high-end accommodation in one of Leicester’s most historically significant settings, as well as bringing fresh life and a new use to these two buildings which have been lying empty,” said Stepnell regional director Thomas Sewell. “We are thrilled to be working in a location which plays such a prominent part in the story of both the city and the nation.”
He added: “Our team is delighted to be using their considerable expertise to help deliver this scheme which will create modern, luxury visitor accommodation while at the same time, fully honouring the heritage of this important site and its surroundings.” The construction programme will be carried out by Stepnell’s Nottingham team which is based at the Eldon Business Park, Chilwell.
Buried over 500 years ago, following his death at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, the remains of King Richard III were discovered by archaeologists in 2012, underneath a Leicester City Council car park. The king was reinterred in Leicester Cathedral in 2015.
