Endurance Land and Aberdeen Asset Management (AAM) have completed the development of a new hotel development at 24-26 Minories, London EC3. The scheme is the firstpurpose built Motel One scheme to open in England.

The property comprises a 291-bedroom hotel, totalling 107,500 sq ft (9,955 sq m), let to affordable designer hotel operator Motel One on a 25-year lease at a rent of £2,433,000 per annum. The new 16-storey hotel is located close to Aldgate and Fenchurch Street stations.

The property, purchased in 2010 by Endurance Land and its funding partner AAM, was originally a six-story building let to Barclays Bank on the ground floor, with five floors of office space above. In August 2012 the Partnership was granted planning consent for the new hotel and, following demolition, construction started in May 2013.

Jonathan Fletcher, Founding Director of Endurance Land, comments: “Having acquired the building at the lower end of the cycle we have been able to obtain an excellent planning consent to create a first class building for a first class tenant. We are delighted with the completion of this exciting and innovative building.”

The development, designed by MacKay + Partners and constructed by McAleer & Rushe, utilised a number of intelligent building systems to help achieve a BREEAM excellent energy rating. These include the design of highly thermally efficient facades with just 35% glazing, heat recovery systems, and green roofs to help thermal efficiency and mitigate rainwater runoff.

The Minories Hotel site hit the national headlines when it was announced that archaeologists from the 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, has been on display at the Museum of London.