£38m hotel project checks in

The 38 million development will complete the transformation of the River Don near Victoria Quays with a five-star 198-room Crowne Plaza Hotel.

A new three-star hotel, Express by Holiday Inn, will also be built nearby with a further 161 beds.

The project, which will boost the number of hotel beds available in the city by 18 per cent, has been developed by the owners of the nearby Holiday Inn Royal Victoria.

The hotels will be built on the Smithfield site on a car park next to the Royal Victoria, bordered by the River Don, Victoria Station Road and the Inner Relief Road.

A new footbridge will connect the north and south banks of the River Don and nine arches beneath Victoria Station Road will be used to create what hotel bosses describe as "a selection of quality restaurant outlets."

More than 100 new jobs will be created.

Developers believe the strength of the Sheffield economy, which last year grew even faster than Manchester or Leeds, make it the right time for such a high-class facility.

And it should help Sheffield pull in more of the lucrative business conferencing market it currently misses out on.

Hermann Beck, the owner of the Royal Victoria Holiday Inn and the man behind the five-star project, said: "It is fantastic for the city.

"We have been working on this for the past four and a half years.

"If everything happens in Sheffield as predicted, with the New Retail Quarter and the other regeneration, then the market will come.

"Manchester and Leeds are significantly ahead of Sheffield, but the gap is narrowing."

What do you think. Post your comments below.

Once the five-star Crowne Plaza opens in 2010 it will bring the number of hotel beds in Sheffield to almost 2,000, with almost half of those within a short walk of Victoria Quays.

The Smithfield site is currently used by market traders and a Sunday car boot sale. Council bosses are looking for a new space for the car boot sale and markets before developers move on site.

The hotel plans will be heard

What do you think. Post your comments below.The hotel plans will be heard by city planners before the end of the year. Work on the first of the new hotels is expected to start in spring 2008. Hermann Beck said: "It is a very exciting time and we are looking forward to taking these plans forward to help put Sheffield well and truly on the map as a key conference and tourism destination venue."

Coun Tim Rippon, cabinet member for economic regeneration, culture and planning, said: "As the Inner Relief Road opens we have the opportunity, through downgrading Exchange Street, to re-connect the Victoria Quays with the city centre, reintegrating the historic waterside from the Quays and down towards Nursery Street and beyond.

"The addition of the Crowne Plaza and Express by Holiday Inn hotels will boost the emerging Central Business District as well as extending the city centre together with retail and leisure offerings.

"The hotel development will complement the plans for the Wicker and West Bar areas which have already been announced."