Rooftop pool plan for Grand Hotel scrapped
PLANS for a rooftop pool on a new city centre hotel overlooking Birmingham Cathedral have been scrapped.
Principal Hotel Company, which is opening the hotel in The Grand, has revamped its designs for the venue in Colmore Row and abandoned its plans for the open-air pool.
A proposed spa and gym on the sixth and top floors are also to be replaced by five new bedrooms while a further two bedrooms will be enlarged.
Plans for a roof terrace outside the top-floor ‘King Suite’ have also been abandoned.
A revised planning application is now being reviewed by Birmingham City Council and, if granted consent, the project would more closely reflect the previously granted planning permission.
The building will now have 185 bedrooms along with conference facilities and a restaurant, but it is not clear yet what star rating the hotel is expected to have.
No reason was given in the new application explaining why the plans had been changed but the revisions come just a few months after Principal’s US owner Starwood Capital sold the firm to French investors Fonciere des Regions. At the same time, Fonciere des Regions, now known as Covivio, also agreed a new operating deal with InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), which owns well-known brands such as Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, Hotel Indigo and Kimpton.
IHG will rebrand and operate 13 Principal hotels, including The Grand, but it is not known at this stage which name the Birmingham hotel will carry.
Principal specialises in revamping landmark city centre buildings.