18 January 2007

Luxury flagship hotel will boost £100m south Wales business park

AN £11m, five star hotel to be built at a south Wales business park, is being hailed as a standard bearer of excellence for the brand.

Work is due to start on construction of the Ramada Plaza Newport Hotel, at the £100m Celtic Springs Business Park, adjacent to Junction 28, M4 at Newport, in June.

The work on the hotel is programmed to be completed by Autumn 2008.

The hotel, which will create some fifty jobs, was due to have 120 rooms but developers have now applied to Newport city planners to increase this figure to 145.

The hotel is close to Phoenix House, where the Prison Service is creating 500 jobs and the defence business EADS, which is building a new three-building ‘campus’ headquarters.

Jim Sutherland, Director of Hotel Development Solutions which is building  and will operate the new hotel, said: “There is a huge demand in the Newport area for the quality of hotel we are building at Celtic Springs.

'' Further research suggests that our original application for a 120 bed hotel may not enable us to satisfy the anticipated increase in demand for the facilities and we are now planning to increase the number of rooms at the hotel.

“The Ramada Plaza Newport, with all that it is bringing to the business park from conference and leisure facilities to swimming pool and restaurant, will be a standard bearer for the brand.”

Mr Sutherland said the Ramada Plaza hotel, which will have one floor dedicated to the provision of a dozen executive standard bedrooms, will serve both the needs of the business park and also the wider public.

“We see the hotel, which will also have a health club, sauna and fitness room  becoming a destination facility for those travelling to south Wales.”

Speaking on behalf of business park developers AWG and Broadhall, Iain Logue, Operations Director at AWG  Property, said: “The creation of the five star Ramada Plaza hotel, at Celtic Springs Business Park, is integral to the delivery of our goal of creating a business park of unparalleled excellence.

“The development of a hotel of this standard is a solid vote of confidence not only in the business park but in future of the city of Newport and its re-emergence, in the 21^st century, as an economic powerhouse for south Wales.

“Celtic Springs Business Park is already an outstanding location for business in Wales, the addition of a five star hotel will make it even more so.” 

Robert Carew-Chaston, Chairman and Managing Director of Hutchings & Thomas, who concluded  negotiations to bring the hotel to the park, said: “The five star hotel, with its wealth of  first class facilities, will be a  fantastic addition to what is already a superb business park.”

Plans for a 35,000 sq ft, three storey, six floor office block, CS 3000, were recently approved for a site adjacent to the hotel.

The prestigious park is already home to the HM Prison Service, which is creating 500 jobs at Phoenix House, Integra Office Solutions, Midas and Wales and West Utilities.