Sheppard Robson gets go-ahead for City hotel

City of London planners have approved Sheppard Robson-designed proposals to replace a 1950s office building near Aldgate with a 15-storey hotel.

The practice’s proposals for RP Assets – owned by Austrian hoteliers Rudolf and Christian Ploberger – received the backing of members of the City’s planning and transportation committee at their meeting last week.

Sheppard Robson’s scheme brings together two distinct masses, with the higher block facing onto Jewry Street and a lower-rise section facing onto Carlisle Avenue.

The Plobergers said their proposals would contribute to the City’s leisure and tourism offer – with 311 hotel rooms, a café/bar on the ground floor and a rooftop restaurant, both open to the public.

The development will also house a co-working space – with free and discounted use of podcasting studios, meeting rooms and event spaces offered for community and educational purposes – as well as proposals for a cultural hub.

City planners said that to reduce the carbon impact of the scheme, the development would retain part of the existing basement and ground floor levels, including partial reuse of floor slab, columns and foundations.

They said the scheme was targeting a BREEAM sustainability rating of “excellent” and that it would achieve a 54% reduction in operational carbon emissions.

Areport to the meetingsaid Sheppard Robson’s plans would deliver 11,221sq m of new floorspace, almost doubling the current building’s 5,770sq m gross internal area.

Planning and transportation committee chair Shravan Joshi said delivering new hotel accommodation had an important role to play in the corporation’s long-term development plans.

“Attracting UK and international visitors with a vibrant leisure and tourism offer is at the heart of the City’s recovery,” he said.

“我们亦希望为中小企业、新创企业、社区及文化用途提供灵活的空间，与香港世界级的金融及专业服务业相辅相成。”

“可持续性一直是该方案的核心考虑因素，它将促进旅游业，并提供一个精品联合办公空间，以满足企业不断变化的需求。”

A spokesperson for the Plobergers said the development had exciting potential to contribute to the “reimagination” of the eastern part of the City as a “more sustainable and vibrant place of economic and social activity”.