London Elephant and Castle – Mixed-use tower with residential

Travelodge London Elephant & Castle is a flagship Travelodge Plus hotel that opened on Monday 16th August 2021. The scheme comprised a brand new, 22-storey, architect-designed development called “The Ceramic Building,” located on the A3 Newington Causeway, with a high profile frontage to the London Overground railway line into Blackfriars station and The City. Travelodge occupies the majority of the ground floor and first ten storeys of the new development, with a mix of private and affordable residential apartments occupying the 11 upper floors. 

The 140-room hotel includes a Bar Cafe offer on the ground floor and an outdoor piazza, with bespoke wooden seating, has been created for the benefit of the development. The hotel boasts some of the finest views in our Estate, with the room designs including floor to ceiling windows, enabling guests to enjoy a panoramic vista over the Central London skyline. 

Located adjacent to Southwark Playhouse and opposite the renowned Mercato Metropolitano street food and drink market, this location is also well-placed for a n easy stroll up to Borough Market, just half a mile to the north. Numerous tube and rail connections are available at Elephant & Castle, within three minutes’ walk, with Northern and Bakerloo lines providing direct, fast services into The City, the West End and to Euston, Kings Cross, Paddington, London Bridge and Waterloo mainline stations and direct overground services to Wimbledon and Sevenoaks. Borough tube station is within easy reach of the hotel too. 

The site was originally occupied by a car parts workshop and store. It was acquired for development by a London-based high net worth private investor, who proposed a mixed-use, high density development of the site in line with emerging LB Southwark planning policy, to assist in the regeneration of the Elephant & Castle area.

The site was originally under offer to a competitor, but we managed to agree terms, on a conditional basis, for a new, 25-year lease of the completed hotel to Travelodge. We worked extensively with the developer on the non-standard floor plans to ensure that the room layouts could work with our furniture options. 

The end result is a flagship, new build, Travelodge Plus hotel with some truly unique room layouts, with all of the en suite bathrooms hand built rather than our usual modular design. It is also our second brand new hotel featuring a full sprinkler system, due to the height of the building. Site works commenced in May 2018 and PC was achieved in August 2021 following some minor delays due to C-19 affecting programme and materials. 

The created hotel investment has been forward sold to a Local Authority on a pension fund lease arrangement, with the terms subject to a NDA. 

Further information regarding this transaction can be obtained from John Hardy, our Development Manager for this deal, who can be contacted on 07767 768 949.