US hotelier Highgate beds down in London as Shoreditch hotel plans win approval
One of New York’s biggest hotel operators is making its first move into the London market after winning planning consent for a site on Shoreditch High Street.
Highgate Holdings, which owns the Knickerbocker on New York’s Times Square, is planning a 319,000 square foot, mixed-used scheme at 201-207 Shoreditch High Street that rises to 30 storeys like a pile of stacked boxes.
The scheme, which was given the go-ahead by Hackney Council, will include a 200-room luxury hotel called Highgate Shoreditch, 127,724 sq ft of office space, roof terraces and a so-called Sky Lounge at the top where people can enjoy the view.
The Sky Lounge is one of three “glass boxes” that will feature at different levels of the building. One will be on the ground floor of the building and will contain a market while the mid-level glass box will be called the Shed and will serve as a venue for lectures, presentations and other events.
Highgate said the Gensler-designed scheme will be in keeping with the “raw factory-style of the former industrial Shoreditch” with an exposed concrete structure and glass façades framed in black steel.
"Thoughtful architecture is at the heart of our proposal and our design respects Shoreditch’s rich industrial legacy, while providing local entrepreneurs and creative businesses with office space and shared amenities,” Gensler's Duncan Swinhoe said.
The project is due to break ground in the second quarter of next year and is expected to be complete by the end of 2018, creating 100 construction jobs and 804 new jobs for the local area.
Highgate Holdings operates over 40,000 rooms across the world including New York hotels such as The Refinery, The Quin, Westhouse and Row NYC.