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Revised plans for the proposed 71-bedroom Premier Inn hotel on High Hill in Keswick have been submitted to the Lake District National Park Authority.
The revised designs, which build on feedback from the community, local stakeholders and planning officers at the National Park, are for a lower and more “architecturally sophisticated hotel building” on the site of the former Ravensfield residential care home on High Hill.
Development company Premcor, which owns the site and is bringing forward the development with Premier Inn, is proposing to invest more than £6m in the new hotel if planning permission is granted later this year.
The updated plans include lowering the roof ridge height of the front and rear elevation, reducing the scale of the building to three storeys’ throughout, “significantly” re-designing the roof details to lower the height building and revising the elevations to reduce the overall scale and ‘mass’ of the building.
Simon Hawkins, director at Darlington based Premcor, said: “Our goal at High Hill is to create an attractive new hotel building that responds to the constraints of the site, suits its context and can be operated successfully by Premier Inn.
“Since submission of the initial planning application in March, we have acted on further comments and feedback from the community and local stakeholders on the design of the building.
Hawkins added: “The new proposed building is lower at the front and back, has a new roof design, fresh elevations and makes use of a greater variety of materials including sections of Lakeland stone. It’s a significantly improved design that reflects the feedback we have received, connects with its environment and will create an excellent entrance into Keswick in my view.”
Premier Inn currently has five hotels in towns around the Lake District National Park (at Cockermouth, Kendal, Penrith, Ulverston and Whitehaven).
Kevin Murray, head of acquisitions at Premier Inn for the north of England and Ireland, added: “Bringing a new Premier Inn to High Hill will provide a new type of accommodation offer in Keswick. Our style of accommodation serves a different market compared to the well-run guest houses and B&Bs in the town.
“We also find that our ‘light touch’ offer supports the local economy as many of our customers go out to eat, drink, visit attractions, do activities, and generally enjoy the local area when they stay with us.”
