Derby city centre
Giant buffet restaurant and budget hotel for ageing city office block
It would seat 160 people
Robin JohnsonBusiness Editor
Forester House on the corner of Newland Street and Becket Street (Image: FHP)
An ageing office block in Derby city centre could house a big buffet restaurant and a budget hotel if fresh plans come to fruition.
Forester House, on the corner of Newland Street and Becket Street, has been earmarked for transformation into an 111-bedroom easyHotel, a restaurant that would seat 160 people and a function room.
Formerly home to JobCentre Plus staff, the ground floor of the 1970s building would become home to the large-scale eaterie and the first floor would have space for weddings and conferences.
The accommodation would be on the top three floors of the five-storey building and feature 78 double bedrooms, 27 twin bedrooms and six rooms specially adapted for people with mobility issues.
Plans have been submitted to Derby City Council by Universal Real Estate to convert Forester House into the new venue.
Documents submitted to the city council by Derby-based JSA Architects, on behalf of Universal, reveal that the operator of the proposed hotel would be easyHotel.
In the documents, JSA Architects wrote: "It is considered that the redevelopment of this building into a hotel and restaurant would contribute positively to the vitality of the local area.
"The proposal would have minimal impact on the existing architectural style, proposing minimal changes to modernise and breathe life back into this tired building, positively impacting the existing street scene.
"The scale and size of the existing building will remain unchanged. However, the introduction of the building use in this area is likely to have a positive impact on the local economy.
Former JobCentre Plus in Newland Street, Derby (Image: Derby Telegraph)
"It is agreed that the operator of the hotel would be easyHotel, part of the easyGroup businesses."
Founded by Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the man behind low-cost airline easyJet, easyHotel owns, develops, operates and franchises hotels under the "super budget" easyHotel brand.
It markets its hotels as offering clean, comfortable and safe hotel accommodation to its customers.
Back in October, in a statement to the London Stock Exchange, the company revealed it had signed a franchise agreement for the development of a new hotel in Derby, but at the time did not specify where.
If the new Derby hotel is given the go-ahead, the venture would create full- and part-time jobs.
The plans state: "The proposed works will provide construction jobs locally and the completed hotel and restaurant will provide new employment opportunities within the area."
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Forester House became empty after Derby City Council struck a deal with the Department for Work and Pensions to relocate JobCentre services under one roof.
It saw 120 JobCentre staff from the Forester House office, and another in Normanton Road, relocate to revamped offices at the Council House, in Corporation Street.
Last summer, a property firm called Telereal Trillium was granted permission by the city council to convert Forester House into 59 apartments.
However, in late September it was announced that the building had been sold to a company called Universal Total Care for £1.6 million, in a deal secured by FHP Property Consultants.
Derby City Council
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