Jobs boost for Sheffield as new hotel launches with Yorkshire Bank backing

22/06/2011

Forty new jobs have been created with a major new £10m hotel which opened for business in Sheffield this week (June 20) – a month ahead of schedule.

The 161-bed `next generation’ Holiday Inn Express Hotel – the first of its kind in any major UK city - was built after owner, Sheffield-based Amber Hotel’s Ltd, secured backing from Yorkshire Bank’s Leeds Financial Solutions Centre (FSC) through its Investing for Growth initiative.

The `limited-service’, Blonk Street hotel is fitted out to a higher specification than a standard Holiday Inn Express with a spacious groundfloor and re-designed bathrooms and bedrooms appyling the latest ergonomic designs favoured by the Intercontinental Hotel Group of which Amber Hotels is a franchisee.

Built by Sheffield-based contractor, JF Finnegan, the new Holiday Inn Express Hotel, to be managed by Steven Vandevelde with a five-strong team, is thought to the first major construction project in the city to complete since the start of the economic downturn four years ago.

Hermann Beck, director of Amber Hotels, which runs the Grade II listed Holiday Inn Royal Victoria Hotel, which it has co-owned since 2001, says: “The opening management team were all trained at the Holiday Inn Royal Victoria Hotel and it is thanks to their expertise that the launch of this exciting new venture has been such a success.

“Trading conditions remain tough in the hotels sector in the regions but this new format of branded, limited-service hotel is outperforming the market because it meets consumer aspirations and offers real value. Because of this we feel that this is right time to open our Holiday Inn Express Hotel.

“Our Holiday Inn Royal Victoria Hotel has significant conference facilities but fewer bedrooms than the new hotel. Apart from the style of accommodation, the new hotel also complements The Royal Victoria by enabling us to offer more rooms for delegates and attract more large conferences to Sheffield.

“We have a long-standing relationship with Yorkshire Bank and we’re pleased to be taking this into a new era with this latest, welcome addition to the Sheffield skyline.”

Yorkshire Bank Leeds FSC business partner, Simon Bartle, says: “Hermann Beck and his team are very experienced and have run a very successful hotel in Sheffield for several years. We are pleased to have supported the development of the new Holiday Inn Express Hotel which we believe will be a successful venture for Amber Hotels and an exciting new facility for Sheffield.”

Yorkshire Bank’s Investing for Growth initiative enables businesses to take advantage of benefits including loan repayment holidays, interest-only repayments and extended loan and credit terms designed to help them take advantage of quality growth opportunities. Businesses taking up the package can re-invest the cash into their business for expansion, new staff, equipment, machinery and business development.

Yorkshire Bank’s Leeds FSC, Manor Road, includes more than 80 corporate, commercial and private banking specialists operating in multi-discipline teams encompassing corporate banking, private wealth management, treasury services and credit and operates a traditional method of banking with funding from deposits used to support investments in the local community.