A long-vacant office building in the heart of St Helier is set to be transformed into an 89-bedroom hotel after planning approved the redevelopment.
The approved scheme will see Union House, on the corner of Union Street and Le Geyt Street, transformed from a partly vacant office building into visitor accommodation, bringing what the developer has described as “much-needed” hotel capacity into the town centre.
The project, designed by MAC Architectural Services on behalf of Vadis Ltd, involves converting the existing building while extending it within an envelope already approved under an earlier planning permission for apartments.
The development will include an 89-room hotel, together with a ground-floor restaurant and bar.
When the application was submitted, MAC Architectural Services managing director Matthew Collins said Union House was in a “poor condition” and that “its use as an office is currently redundant”.
“The exterior of the building is dated and in need of replacement and the building’s services inside are inadequate,” he said.
“By retaining the structure of this building and converting it into an 89-bedroom hotel within the existing footprint and structure provides a very sustainable development in the heart of the Built-Up Zone of the Island Plan.”
The building had previously secured planning permission to be converted into 27 apartments.
Mr Collins said the hotel proposal sat within that approved building envelope, meaning no further increase in height was required.
In a post announcing the approval, MAC Architectural Services said the scheme would transform “a dated, partly vacant office tower” into an 89-room hotel, bringing “much-needed visitor accommodation into the heart of St Helier” while returning “a landmark building back into full use”.
