Coastal hotel demolition works begin
Demolition of a hotel in Runswick Bay, North Yorkshire, has started today. (19 August)
Contractors have arrived on site at Cliffemount Hotel to prepare for an eight-week long demolition process.
The entire process, which is being led by Stainforth Construction, has been given an expected completion date of 11 October 2024.
Cliffemount Hotel was once a popular visitor destination. In 2022 the hotel closed and was sold to a Yorkshire family, the Fojt family, who have strong links to Runswick Bay.
In 2023, it was confirmed that the family intended to demolish the existing property and rebuild it as a new 20-room hotel, pub and restaurant.
Focusing on sustainability, the family intends to follow strict design and building regulations set by The Passivhaus Trust whilst rebuilding the hotel.
If successful, the new Cliffemount would be the first hotel in the UK to achieve Passivhaus accreditation.
For this accreditation to be achievable, the existing building must be completely removed.
Melissa Tomlinson, managing director, said: “It’s a huge milestone for us to be able to announce that demolition is commencing.
“It’s taken a lot of time and effort from all involved parties to make it happen because it’s such a huge process.
“The scale of the project as a whole meant it was always going to take a while for work to begin, but it has taken a little longer than expected.
“This is largely because we’ve never been willing to compromise on quality. We’ve always said we would consider the community in everything we do. We’ve stayed true to that to date and plan on continuing to do so.
“We want to thank everyone for their continued support and their patience whilst we made the necessary arrangements.”
Paul Thackray, site manager at Stainforth Construction, added: “We aim to conduct the works with the minimum amount of disruption to the local community and environment.
“Unfortunately, there will inevitably be some element of disruption, mainly due to the delivery of construction machinery. Anyone with any questions or concerns can reach out to our team directly and we will be happy to comment.”
