London & South East

Hampton by Hilton is ready to take over the UK

Hampton by Hilton LutonA new Hampton by Hilton hotel is under construction in Kimpton Road, Luton.

Hampton by Hilton boasts hotels in a number of fantastic locations across the UK – including Birmingham, Derby and Liverpool. The chain seamlessly combines the global power of Hilton Worldwide with Hampton’s leadership in the popular value sector. As a result, Hampton by Hilton is able to offer outstanding service and amenities – including a free hot breakfast and free high speed internet access – at a price that customers can appreciate.

The Ability Group is carrying out the £17m project, which began in September 2011 and is due to be completed in October 2012. Main contractors for the project are Bowmer and Kirkland and the architects are EPR.

The new development is situated adjacent to the Luton railway station and within one mile of Luton Airport, just 50km from central London. Luton Airport is the second largest airport after Heathrow for business travel and receives upwards of 9 million passengers each year. The Ability Group will provide their own shuttle service to transport people to and from the hotel and airport.

The 7,400m² hotel comprises 188 guestrooms over four floors, along with a further two floors of office space. The ground floor public areas include a reception, meeting rooms and breakfast zones, together with a bar, 24/7 snacks facility and a gym/fitness room.

The upper office floors are set back with roof terraces and a fully glazed facade to provide a pleasant and bright working office environment. Whilst the structure of the development includes both concrete and steel, the upper floors predominantly feature precast concrete to the walls, floors and stairs.

The exterior will comprise full height glazing to the ground floor public areas with a combination of render and punched windows to the four floors above.

External landscaping will include the creation of 270 car park spaces for guests, visitors and office tenants.Hampton by Hilton Luton

As well as benefitting from excellent access to the airport and major roads, the current programme of works to open pedestrian links to the adjacent main line station will make the hotel location ideal for visitors across the UK.

The Ability Group

The Ability Group are the owners and developers of the new hotel, which Hilton will manage on their behalf.

The company was founded in 1996 by Chairman and Chief Executive, Andreas Panayiotou.  After selling the bulk of his 9,000 unit private portfolio in 2006, Andreas Panayiotou diverted his interests towards the hotel and leisure industry. Following a move into the hotel business in the latter part of 2007, he subsequently developed a portfolio of seven hotels and began to look at further hotel development opportunities.

The Ability Group also comprises Ability Shipping and Ability Leisure, whilst their extensive portfolio includes property on Bishop’s Avenue in London, which is reputed to be one of Britain’s most expensive homes with a price tag of circa £100m.

Head of Hotel and Leisure, Lionel Benjamin, said:

“We looked at various operators and around five years ago, we decided that we wanted to work with one particular operator. Ultimately we chose Hilton and they now manage five hotels across the UK on our behalf.

“Hampton by Hilton is a very interesting brand with a lot of opportunity within the economy market. Furthermore, Luton continues to move forward – particularly with regards to private airlines and private jets flying from Luton Airport.

“We are delighted to be associated with another new development in Luton. There is a lot of regeneration planned for the area and we see ourselves as a major part of that redevelopment opportunity.”

Bell & Webster

Established over 63 years ago, Bell & Webster is a leader in the design, manufacture and construction of precast concrete hotel and student accommodation rooms.

Some of their past projects include 24 student accommodation developments for nationwide universities such as Reading Phase 1 & 2, University of Essex (Southend) and Mile End Road, London. In total, they have provided their RoomSolutionsTM  for almost 16,000 student accommodation facilities and 11,100 rooms for hotel projects.

In conjunction with their room products, Bell & Webster have also manufactured and delivered over 65,000 precast concrete retaining walls and manufactured the precast concrete terracing for 10 UK stadia projects.

For the Hampton & Hilton Luton project, Bell & Webster liaised with the architect and the main contractor very early on and aided with the design of the main concrete frame.

A spokesperson for Bell & Webster said: “It was great working with Bowmer & Kirkland as we have previously worked together on many projects and we understand each other’s needs and priorities. Ultimately this enabled the project to progress seamlessly.”


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