Demolition works to prepare the former Coventry Telegraph building in Corporation Street for conversion into a boutique hotel are nearing completion, allowing the main project to create the hotel to commence in January 2019 and be completed in time for City of Culture 2021.
The early works costing over £500,000 have been funded by award-winning developer Complex Development Projects (CDP) who was granted planning permission in the summer.
Local firm Coventry Demolition Company, based in Ryton-on-Dunsmore, has been stripping out the modern computer floors and suspended ceilings to reveal the original building and has carefully retained the 1950s features that will be a core part of the hotel design. The works also include the removal of asbestos to make the site safe for the future.
The next phase to re-model the interior to construct a combination of bedrooms, a ground floor restaurant and bar, conference facilities, meeting rooms, penthouse suites and a rooftop bar will start in the New Year.
CDP is very committed to retaining the 1950s detailing of the building, which is a time capsule of the city’s post war regeneration. Features include the panelled board room and the Lord Iliffe Suite which was the top floor apartment of the newspaper’s former owner.
Brian Harrabin, a director of CDP, said that the company had decided to start work ahead of securing all of the funding and Council legal agreements for the project, so as not to miss the 2021 deadline.
He said: “These projects are very complicated and take a lot of time to put together, but we have bitten the bullet to start the work at risk to make sure it is open in time for 2021. City of Culture is a deadline that can’t be missed.
“The stripping out contract is removing the later additions and it is fascinating to see the original building appear again.
“The interior of the new hotel will be based on Coventry’s world-renowned Mid-Century architecture with a great deal of care and thought going into the design. We want it to be a treat to visit and totally different to anything else in the market place.
“We will be preserving many of its original features and artefacts including the original public area at the front of the building that will become the café/bar in the new hotel. We want it to be instantly recognisable as still the same place – we have been overwhelmed by people’s fond memories.
“Whilst the project won’t be fully secure until everything is signed up with our partners by Christmas, we remain on track to open in the summer of 2020 to make sure that the new hotel team has time to be fully prepared for the expected deluge of visitors in 2021. The hotel will give visitors from the UK and across the world an exceptional Coventry experience.”