Budget hotel brand Premier Inn is to convert a subterranean car park in central London into a 207-room property.
Whitbread, which owns Premier Inn, has secured planning permission to create a hub by Premier Inn hotel underneath The Brunswick Centre in the Bloomsbury area of the UK capital.
The site is currently used as a double-storey car park below the Grade II-listed residential and retail building, which was built in the early 1970s.
The redevelopment of the building, which is due to start later this year, will include the installation of lighting technology based around the human circadian rhythm, which regulates people’s wakefulness and sleepiness throughout the 24 hours of each day. Meanwhile solar panels on the centre’s roof will provide power for the hotel.
Jonathan Langdon, senior acquisition manager for Whitbread, said: “Whitbread has been transforming former retail and office buildings into successful Premier Inn and hub by Premier Inn hotels for close to 20 years.
“The subterranean hotel pushes the hub by Premier Inn brand forward once again and opens a world of opportunity for us in looking at the possibilities of converting unused, underutilised and hidden spaces into successful budget hotels.”