EDGE Venues

Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide is to run and manage the new hotel being built at London Excel under its new brand Aloft Hotels. The 252 room hotel is scheduled to open at the end of 2011 and will mark the brand’s UK debut.

24 of the former Ramada Jarvis Hotels have now been re-branded as Mercure Hotels and part of the Accor Global Hotel Brand.

The UK’s first Crowne Plaza Resort has recently opened after a multi-million pound refurbishment of the Five Lakes Colchester hotel. The four-star resort includes several meeting rooms and a banqueting and exhibition arena suitable for trade shows and events up to 4,000 delegates.

A £40m new venue is to be built in partnership with Liverpool City Council and ACC Liverpool, home to BT Convention Centre and Echo Arena. The facility, which will be adjacent to ACC Liverpool on the Kings Dock, is to open for business in September 2014. The new space will be divided into three interconnected, pillar-free halls of 2,700sqm each.

A 200 bed upmarket hotel is to be built at the University of Nottingham. The £20m eco-friendly hotel, which will be built on University Park, will be available for use by conference delegates, university visitors, local businesses and the general public. The hotel will feature state-of-the-art technology to reduce carbon emissions, as part of the University’s strategy to become a more environmentally-friendly institution. It will be sited next to the East Midlands Conference Centre and will feature some executive-style rooms, meeting and conferencing rooms, a gym as well as a restaurant and bar. Subject to planning approval, building work is expected to commence in 2011, with completion due summer 2012.