Hotel asks council to approve multi-million-pound refurb plans for second time
By Adrian Zorzut, Local Democracy Reporter
The Sheraton Park Tower hotel in Knightsbridge has applied for a multi-million-pound refurbishment which includes building eight residential flats and a new two-storey podium at ground floor.
The hotel chain has asked Kensington and Chelsea council to approve its plans for the second time in five years because it wants to add an extra two storeys to the existing permission which only allows them to build four.
The proposal will see an underground public car park ripped out to make way for a large podium that will surround the site, and the removal of a casino on the premises to free up more than 1000sqm of space for retailers and a restaurant.
The number of hotel rooms will be reduced from 271 to 240 in a bid to ‘modernise’ the 1970s tower. Accessible hotel rooms will be increased from three to 12, a planning application before Kensington and Chelsea council shows.
Sheraton said the refurb, which is set to cost more than £100million, also includes building eight new three to four-bedroom apartments overlooking Hyde Park.
The hotel currently comprises 16 floors with its body measuring 40 metres tall. If the application is approved, the height of the tower will increase by 15 metres.
The hotel chain is offering Kensington and Chelsea council £16.5million in financial contributions to offset the lack of affordable housing.
It said the circular shape of the building makes it difficult to build social housing and that building smaller residential units would result in them having little to no access to windows.
The council said the offer was “reasonable in this circumstance” despite its own assessors calling on Sheraton to pay £38.5million. Sheraton will also provide £5.8million towards the borough’s Community Infrastructure Levy.
The proposal appears to be popular with locals with a number writing in to support the application. They said it would enhance the area and improve the existing “ugly” building base while “strengthening” shops in the area. A smaller number of objectors said the additional storeys would result in the tower “dwarfing” surrounding buildings and becoming “visually overpowering”.
Kensington and Chelsea council said: “The proposed development would be acceptable and make a notable contribution to the delivery of homes in the borough.
“The adverse impacts of the scheme would not significantly and demonstrably outweigh the clear benefits and the scheme is recommended for approval, subject to conditions and a legal agreement.”
In 2020, Sheraton was granted permission to increase the height of the building by four storeys, which included redeveloping the 16th and 17th floors and to create a new setback on the 18th floor. This would have added an additional 5m to the height of the building.
Kensington and Chelsea council will review the application during a planning meeting on Thursday, April 3.
Pictured top: The Sheraton Park Hotel in Knightsbridge has applied for a multi-million-pound refurb (Picture: Stanton)
