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A new planning application for the vacant 1980s Morley House at Holborn Viaduct signals a restart after nearly a decade in limbo, with Aukett Swanke replacing Eric Parry Architects to deliver a revised hotel design for StayCity\u2019s premium Wilde operator and Altius Real Estate, alongside proposed conservation works to the neighbouring City Temple.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Aukett Swanke has been brought onto the long\u2011running Morley House project in the City of London as the design lead for a renewed hotel proposal, replacing Eric Parry Architects on plans to demolish the vacant 1980s office block and deliver a new hotel. A fresh planning application for the site next to Holborn Viaduct was submitted last week on behalf of operator StayCity and developer Altius, signalling a restart of a scheme that has been in limbo for close to a decade. According to the development team\u2019s consultation materials, StayCity is proposed to operate the hotel under its premium Wilde brand while Aukett Swanke prepares the revised designs.<\/p>\n
The development team\u2019s consultation site and public planning records describe Morley House as an under\u2011utilised 1980s office building that has largely sat vacant, with earlier works begun but never completed. Those documents also note an extant planning history: an application in 2013 that was withdrawn, subsequent strategic referrals and applications, and permissions and revisions carried through the early 2020s. The proposals published for local consultation link the hotel programme with restoration work to the adjacent City Temple church, reflecting an effort to secure the long\u2011term use of that listed neighbour as part of any redevelopment.<\/p>\n
The current intervention overturns a scheme granted consent in 2017, when Eric Parry Architects obtained permission for a ten\u2011storey, 191\u2011room hotel for Shiva Hotels together with works to the lower floors of City Temple. At the time the project team argued the package would secure the future of the Grade II listed church while introducing new hospitality floorspace to Holborn Viaduct. That consent, however, did not result in a completed development and the site has remained in planning and ownership flux since.<\/p>\n
Ownership and market context help explain the renewed momentum. Industry reporting shows the freehold was marketed by investment advisers and was sold by H.I.G. affiliates to Altius Real Estate, in a transaction valued in the region of \u00a360 million. Marketing material prepared by the agents placed an indicative gross development value in the hundreds of millions, highlighting the asset as a ready\u2011to\u2011go hotel opportunity in central London with potential for rooftop hospitality and event space. Those broker materials also recorded extant consents that envisaged an eleven\u2011storey hotel in the previously marketed scheme.<\/p>\n
The revised proposal now being promoted by the development team emphasises a hotel operated by StayCity\u2019s Wilde brand and a fresh design led by Aukett Swanke. The consultation site produced by the new team invites local comment ahead of the formal application and frames the project as both redevelopment of the existing, largely vacant building and a conservation\u2011led package for the neighbouring City Temple. The developer materials present these aims in promotional terms; independently filed planning documents with the Greater London Authority set out the statutory heritage, transport and design issues the scheme must satisfy as it moves through determination.<\/p>\n
The Morley House case sits within a wider market trend of office\u2011to\u2011alternative\u2011use conversions in central London, where investor appetite has grown for \u201cready\u2011to\u2011go\u201d hotel assets close to major transport hubs and employer concentrations. Industry commentary and marketing material for the sale stressed the site\u2019s strategic location and the commercial rationale for delivering hospitality product in the area, while also acknowledging the constraints of working beside listed buildings and in a sensitive city setting.<\/p>\n
What happens next will depend on the planning process. The council and the Greater London Authority will reassess heritage impacts, transport arrangements and design quality in light of the new submissions, and the consultation material indicates the developer hopes to address earlier concerns through the revised design and the proposed restoration works to City Temple. For neighbours and heritage stakeholders, the significant change is that the project now has a new design team, a named operator and a developer with clear market backing; whether that translates into a build contract and on\u2011site activity remains to be seen.<\/p>\n