Bardsley Construction expands into hotel market with AC Hotel by Marriott

Bardsley Construction is expanding into the hotels market with the delivery of the second AC Hotel by Marriott in Greater Manchester.

The burgeoning family-owned firm based in Tameside, Greater Manchester, secured the prestigious £15.5m contract with Axcel Hospitality to deliver the hotel.

The four-star hotel is being constructed by Bardsley on a former surface car park bounded by Mason Street and Cable Street in Ancoats, north of the city centre, and is expected to open in early 2019.  Rising to nine storeys, it will offer 172 rooms, gym, café, restaurant, bar and meeting/conference facilities.

AC Hotels by Marriott, part of Marriott International, has more than 100 design-led hotels throughout Europe and the United States and made its debut in the UK with openings in Birmingham and Salford Quays last year.

AC Hotels – a lifestyle brand conceived by Spanish hotelier Antonio Catalan – is targeted at business travellers seeking modern and sophisticated design with average room rates of £100 per person, per night.

The hotel has been designed by architects Simpson Haugh & Partners, with other firms employed on the scheme being project manager and quantity surveyor Axiom Project Services, structural engineer Quattro, mechanical and electrical specialist and fire engineer Cundall and pre-cast manufacturer F P McCann.

Ged Rooney, procurement director at Bardsley Construction, said: “It’s some years since Bardsley was involved in the construction of a hotel on this scale, so we see this prestigious contract with Axcel and AC Hotels as an expansion into a new market for us, and a natural extension to our extensive residential sector experience.

“Demand for new hotels is buoyant with the requirement for quality and affordable leisure accommodation rising in line with the world getting smaller thanks to ever improving transport links such as the ongoing expansion of routes at Manchester Airport.”

The delivery of the hotel reflects Bardsley forecasting a strong performance in 2017 including a secured order book valued at more than £55m, in its recently released annual results.