£250m hotel district passes key construction milestone

Airport City Manchester and BCEGI have topped out construction on a new Holiday Inn and Ibis Budget, the first properties to be built as part of plans to create a £250m hotel district.

The Holiday Inn and Ibis Budget schemes will ultimately create in the region of 350 jobs and introduce 542 new hotel beds within easy reach of Manchester Airport.

Work progresses despite the pandemic

Scheduled to open in early 2022, the two projects at the £1bn Airport City Manchester development, next to the airport’s ground transport interchange, have now topped out. Work to construct the 280-bed Holiday Inn Manchester Airport and 262-bed Ibis Budget Manchester Airport is being carried out by BCEGI, the main contractor on the £45m scheme.

Building got underway in January 2020 – shortly before Covid took hold in the UK – but BCEGI has still made good progress despite the challenges arising from the pandemic, with little impact on delivery.

Dongwen Yu, lead director, BCEGI, said: “As main contractor and joint-venture partner, we are delighted to see these two new hotels at Airport City Manchester top out. The team has done an exceptional job in maintaining construction onsite, as well as ensuring those involved have been able to work safely within government guidelines. Alongside the recent opening of the brand-new pedestrian and cycle bridge, these latest additions are another great indication of the progress being made at Airport City Manchester.”

Manchester’s new £250m hotel district

Holiday Inn and Ibis Budget will form part of Airport City Manchester’s £250m hotel district, comprising a cluster of nine new properties providing more than 2,400 rooms in total. Also earmarked for the site is a nine-storey, 412-bedroom hotel and restaurant operated under Accor’s Tribe brand, which secured planning consent in 2020.

On behalf of Airport City Manchester, Gareth Jackson, group property managing director at Manchester Airports Group, said: “Topping out on the Holiday Inn and Ibis hotels is another major milestone at Airport City Manchester. Both of these globally recognised brands represent the first in a series of hotels that will make up our £250m hotel district, which is set to provide a range of additional facilities and amenities to the airport campus, such as meeting space and a new food and drink offer, as well as providing employment opportunities for local people.”

Holiday Inn Manchester Airport will showcase the IHG brand’s signature open lobby, which combines the lobby, front desk, restaurant, bar, lounge and business centre into a single space. It’ll also incorporate a full-service, ground-floor restaurant, designed to attract guests from both hotels. Rooms will be split across six floors, while part of the sixth floor will boast a terrace for guests overlooking the airfield, and the seventh floor will include a canopied terrace and crew lounge looking out towards the city centre.

Ibis Budget Manchester Airport, meanwhile, will feature rooms across seven levels. There’ll also be free wifi and a breakfast buffet for guests to enjoy.

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