Endurance Land and its funder Scottish Widows Investment Partnership celebrated the topping out ceremony of its Minories Hotel project in the City of London.

Endurance Land a specialist in driving value through the active management of assets, that require refurbishment or development, is currently developing over 1000 hotel rooms in London.

The 291-bedroom Minories Hotel at 24-26 Minories EC3, which boasts stunning views across London, will be the first Motel One hotel in England.

Due to be completed in October 2014, the Minories Hotel is currently standing at an impressive 175 ft and already has seen 5,300m3 of concrete and 800 tonnes of steel rebar employed.

The Mackay + Partners designed hotel is being built by McAleer & Rushe. The design and build team is led by McAleer & Rushe’s Peter Devlin.

Jonathan Fletcher founding director of Endurance Land paid tribute to all involved in the project. “I would particularly like to thank Scottish Widows for their vision in backing this project when the market looked very different and for McAleer & Rushe for keeping the project on track despite all the challenges.”

The Minories Hotel site hit the national headlines when it was announced that archaeologists from  Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA) had discovered a pristine Roman sculpture of an eagle on the site. The sculpture which depicts an eagle in mortal combat with a writhing snake, in a graphic display of the battle between good and evil is currently on display in the Museum of London.

McAleer & Rushe is also currently working with Endurance Land building a 189-bedroom ‘hub By Premier Inn’ hotel on Brick Lane, E1 in London’s Spitalfields.

In April, Scottish Widows Investment Partnership Property Trust and Endurance Land gained planning permission for a 100,000 sq ft seven-storey office scheme at 35 Chancery Lane WC2.