Kingston office block to become budget hotel?
A 1970s office block in Kingston upon Thames could be turned in to a budget hotel.
The Surrey Comet newspaper reports that developers BA Partnership & Premier Inn Hotels Ltd have submitted a planning application requesting permission to change the use of Combined House into a hotel.
The office block is in Wheatfield Way in Kingston upon Thames town centre and sits above an NCP car park and is next to a Travelodge Hotel which was also previously offices.
The tower was built in 1976 and has been owned by the BA Partnership since 2003. A planning statement supporting their application to turn the offices into a hotel notes, “Kingston has long been a relatively unpopular office location and its rental values are correspondingly low, only 60% of those in Richmond, for example.”
“It would not be financially justifiable to refurbish Combined House” [for use as offices], the report goes on to say. The closing date for comments on the application is December 6th.