A £3.5 million destination spa has been delivered by Roger Burnett at Laceby Manor.
The major investment, creating 40 jobs, has been unveiled following a 15-month build, setting itself at the height of luxury. The proud owner, now more than a decade into his leisure pursuit, is looking to compete with the likes of Eden and Ragdale Hall.
He aims to maximise the location on the edge of the Lincolnshire Wolds, while underlining the benefits of a bespoke build over an incorporation into a stately home.
Read more: TT to tee was only half the journey for resort-owning former champ Roger Burnett
A dozen dedicated hotel-style rooms in a neighbouring annex have also emerged, in addition to the 55 lodges now on the rapidly developing golf course - where the team has consent for a further 116 holiday homes.
Mr Burnett said: “This is a destination spa for northern Lincolnshire, for the Grimsby-area, and we’re putting Laceby on the map - something I’ve always tried to do in my professional career.
“I am so proud of this area, so proud of the people in this area. All local trades have done the work, and with us being on the edge of the Lincolnshire Wolds, a conservation area, with so much natural beauty, I feel we’ll be an attractive, relaxing get-away.
“The philosophy of the spa is laid-back luxury delivered within a bespoke building. Normally you have a stately home where a spa has been put in, here we have a spa delivered in a bespoke way. Our message is wellness starts within.”
Drawing on Scandinavian and ski lodge influences, the design from Keir Architecture and maximises views over the golf course, includes seven treatment rooms, including a double, as well as a Finnish sauna, herbal sauna, steam room, rasul, indoor to outdoor vitality pool and a natural swimming pond for wild swimming and cold water therapy. The latter is filled using an innovative rainwater harvesting and filtration system.
Visitors can also enjoy a couple’s bathing room with private Japanese-inspired garden.
A terrace with bar and a restaurant area, as well as a 500-member gym, and a large office for the former TT champion’s long-held RBP marketing agency complete the work.
A mantra of ‘purpose over profit’ has seen no expense spared in the realisation of The Spa.
Conceived prior to Covid, Mr Burnett estimates the knock-on from the recent economic challenges is an additional £1 million - the initial price tag floated when the proposal was first mooted.
Each treatment room has its own private ‘couchette’ - a small rest room - with Mr Burnett’s son, Alex, behind the interior styling, with Grimsby-based Keir Architecture having delivered the building working with West Yorkshire’s Curveline Design on the interior’s lay-out.
Since taking it over from Grimsby Institute, with a team of four, the site now employs 76 staff, and Mr Burnett has acknowledged the support.
“In every planning application we have put forward, we have been encouraged with our work as a tourism destination, with the golf, the lodges and now The Spa.
Every step of the way the local authority has got it and supported us wholeheartedly, throughout this process, and since we took on this site - then a run down 120 acres of land owned by the college 11 years ago.
“That support has enabled us to achieve this, with investment and hard work going hand-in-hand alongside what is now a beautiful golf course.”
Spa director Belinda Bell brings more than 30 years of industry experience to Laceby Manor, having worked across beauty, pharmaceuticals and dermatology. Her CV includes Scotland’s Skibo Castle, Skipton’s The Coniston Hotel and international work with Accor.
She said: “It is an absolutely beautiful addition and will be such a pleasure to work in. We want everything to be at the highest level, it is at that level, and it is something we can be very, very proud of.
“We’re redefining the concept of luxury within the spa industry; replacing grandiosity with understated elegance and focusing on exceptional care and comfort over formality and opulence.
“As our guests face the ever more overwhelming demands of modern life; we provide space to breathe and time to heal in beautiful surroundings, supported by food, refreshments and products that are both indulgent and nourishing. We offer more than simply a place to recharge and restore, we provide guests with the opportunity to re-prioritise and restart their personal wellness journey.”
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