The start-date for construction of a new hotel based on the NEC campus in Solihull, West Midlands has been confirmed for June 2018.
Planning permission was secured earlier this year from Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council by Dutch-based developers, Vastint Hospitality.
Branded as a Moxy Hotel, a Marriott International lifestyle brand, it will be built over eight floors, provide 224 bedrooms and is due to open in mid-2019.
Interestingly, the construction technique will involve modular cross-laminated timber pods being manufactured in Italy and then transported in sections and assembled on site.
The hotel complements significant investment on the NEC campus over recent years, including the £150m+ Resorts World complex that opened in late 2015.
Bear Grylls & Merlin
A Bear Grylls Adventure, to be operated by Merlin Entertainments, will open on the site later this year.
The Dutch developers behind The Moxy Hotel are representative of a marked increase in foreign direct investment projects landing in Solihull in recent years. A total of 66 projects over the last five years (2012-2017) is more than double the figure in the previous five years, according to West Midlands Growth Company Regional Observatory.
John Hornby, NEC Group’s Chief Operating Officer said: “This new hotel is an excellent addition to our site’s profile and will complement the existing range of hotels on site and in the surrounding area. As well as adding much-needed hotel room capacity, it will bring a fresh and vibrant ambience and experience for the six million visitors and guests attending the NEC, the Genting Arena and Birmingham Resorts World each year.
“The next phase of our masterplan will be the arrival of Merlin’s Bear Grylls Adventure family leisure attraction this autumn. That attraction will work well with The Moxy Hotel, and both developments are important components of our strategy to broaden the range of leisure uses on our site.”
Emma Gray, Director of Marketing and Communications at the West Midlands Growth Company, the regional body responsible for tourism and inward investment, added: “More visitors than ever are choosing to spend time in the West Midlands, with a 17% rise in domestic tourists in the last five years and the largest growth in overseas visits of all UK regions in 2017. This has led to significant development activity across our business tourism sector, demonstrating the confidence that investors hold in the region’s visitor economy.
“Moxy’s arrival on the NEC campus will give visitors a new choice when coming to the region for events and exhibitions, and to sample our leisure offer.”
