MEININGER Hotels and investor LGIM Real Assets (Legal & General) have signed an agreement for a hotel in Glasgow. The hotel will be located on West George Street opposite Queen Street Train Station and will offer 160 rooms and 590 beds. The opening is scheduled for 2020.

Due to its strategic location in the centre of Glasgow, opposite to Queen Street Train Station which is currently undergoing a major redevelopment, many of the city’s sights, museums and monuments are within walking distance from the hotel. Equally, there are numerous restaurants, pubs and venues nearby. The Gallery of Modern Art is just a 3-minute walk from the hotel and the Royal Concert Hall just 9 minutes.

The hotel is well connected to both local and long-distance destinations, with trains running to the north of Scotland and to Edinburgh, which can easily be reached within 40 minutes. The nearest underground station is also just 160 meters from the hotel.

The MEININGER Hotel will have 160 rooms and 590 beds, spread over 5 floors of the new building. The room types will range from classic double rooms through private multi-bed rooms to beds in a dorm room. The public areas such as reception, lobby, lounge, breakfast room and bar as well as a guest kitchen and game zone, which are all typical features of a MEININGER, will be located on the first floor of the building. At basement, ground and mezzanine levels the scheme will also create around 1400 sqm of new retail space.

The building was designed by the architectural practice NORR.

Derek Reid, Project Director for Architects NORR Consultants, stated “We are immensely proud to have assisted Legal + General and MEININGER Hotels in achieving not only this milestone, but also the recent milestone of securing Planning permission. Our design for the building seeks to balance an appropriate response to a strategic location within Glasgow City Centre Conservation Area with capturing the exciting dynamic of the MEININGER Hotel brand. We look forward to continuing our role on the project through to project completion and opening.”

The hotel in Glasgow will be the second hotel for the MEININGER Group in the UK. MEININGER already operates a hotel in London since 2006. Hannes Spanring, CEO of MEININGER Hotels, is pleased about the new project: “Great Britain is a very important market for us and Glasgow as Scotland’s largest city is the perfect location for another MEININGER hotel in the UK. The Glasgow hotel is an excellent addition to our portfolio, due to its prime location in the heart of the city centre.”

The MEININGER Hotels continue to expand. This year another 6 hotels are going to open in Europe. Including Glasgow, a total of 15 projects are under development and further projects are being searched for. “The focus is still on Europe, but we are also looking for opportunities in North America and South Asia,” says Hannes Spanring.

Craig Westmacott, Senior Fund Manager, LGIM Real Assets, said: “We are pleased to be working with MEININGER Hotels as they seek to expand their successful brand into the UK. This site is an excellent location for a new hotel and together with the redevelopment of Queen Street station will bring significant improvements to this key area of Glasgow city centre.”

Source: MEININGER press release, March 2018