124 flats at historic Hotel de France approved

Monday 20 May 2019

Plans to demolish the banqueting hall, and other unused buildings, at one of Jersey's most well-known hotels, to make way for over 100 flats have been approved.

As part of the plans put forward by Dandara, an old bedroom wing, the banqueting hall, staff accommodation facilities and a parking building will be replaced with a mixture of one-bedroom and two-bedroom homes.

Two residential blocks will be built on the site of the banqueting hall, while a third smaller one will replace the staff accommodation building. In total, 124 flats will be provided by the new development, equally split between one and two-bedroom flats.

The majority of flats will have access to a private garden or a terrace for those on lower floors, while those in higher floors will have a balcony or bay.

Pictured: The building to be destroyed can be seen from Stopford Road.

The development will also include parking, some of which will be reserved for staff of the hotel to make up for the spaces lost, as well as a landscaped area in the middle of the two main blocks.

While the main buildings were originally meant to be seven storeys high, the developers decided to make them lower to address concerns from the neighbours living in the area. They also decided to built them further away from Maison St. Louis and to remove all windows on the east elevation to reduce any overlooking views onto them.

"The broken down mass of the proposed scheme will significantly benefit Maison St. Louis by opening up the views to the west and allowing more direct sunlight," the design statement compiled by Axis Mason, the architects behind the project, noted.

Pictured: A view of the new development from the Hotel, with red lines showing the outline of the current building.

The document explained that the hotel's business has "shifted to their award winning spa offering" and that the "surplus" buildings have reached the end of their "serviceable" life.

"The banqueting hall is no longer commercially viable and presents an incongruous and alien form within what is a predominantly residential context," they wrote.

As part of the development, Dandara have pledged to refurbish the granite wall and buildings that sit on the site along Wellington Road. They will also incorporate a historic stone arch salvaged during works at Gaspé House.

Pictured: The granite wall off Wellington Road will be refurbished as part of the development.

Access to the new buildings will be made through a new entrance set off Wellington Road. Dandara will help with widening the pavements in the area and also fund a new bus stop and crossing point.

Pictured top: Hotel de France viewed from across St. Helier. (Dan Marsh/Wiki)