Plans unveiled for Altius Real Estate at consultation this week would see the existing Bavaria House on a 0.15ha site at 13-14 Appold Street demolished and replaced with a new hotel operated by The Cloud One, part of the Motel One Group.
Make’s proposals replace an earlier consented office and hotel scheme that was never built, designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF) and approved in 2015 for New York-based hotel and real estate firm Masterworks Development Corporation.
The never-realised KPF scheme was for a mixed office and hotel tower of around 45 storeys. It included a 416-room hotel and more than 8,175m² of office space.
In 2022, SOM was appointed to the project by a new owner, Chinese firm Giant Mind. Consultation documents and an environmental impact assessment scoping request had imagined a 48-storey building.
Although never submitted as a formal application, that tower would have contained 35,500m2 of office space as well 1,400m2 of shop space, 700m2 of amenity space, an 800m2 underground restaurant and 1,650m2 of plant and servicing space in a 199m tower.
Make’s new proposal, which has been subject to an environmental impact assessment lodged with Hackney Council, would instead be totally dedicated to hotel use, with public realm improvements at ground level and a rooftop bar for guests on the highest floor. Although the 34,295m² scheme has more storeys, it would have a height of 188m.
According to consultation documents, the design draws on Shoreditch’s industrial and manufacturing heritage, with the practice taking inspiration from the area’s history as a centre for printing and production.
A more solid and textured architectural treatment is proposed, with the building’s lower levels designed to respond to the character of the surrounding streets. Earl Street would be redesigned to give greater priority to pedestrians, with new planting, seating and shaded areas intended to improve connections between Shoreditch, Broadgate and Liverpool Street.
Bavaria House was originally built in the 1980s as a seven-storey office building. It has remained vacant for many years.
Plans will be submitted to Hackney Council at a later date.