Westminster Council has approved plans for a derelict 60-room Grade-II listed hotel at 10 – 11 Lancaster Gate to be turned into 11 apartments.
Originally built in the 1800s as two private homes, the buildings were connected in the 1920s to form the Averard Hotel opposite Hyde Park.
The hotel closed its doors in 2008 and its grand rooms have sat empty since – aside from hosting the occasional catwalk show at London Fashion Week.
It was listed for sale at £35 million in 2017, and then for £23 million in 2022.
Lancaster Gate Investments Limited, a company directed by members of South Africa-based property developers Heriot Reit, has successfully applied to convert the building from hotel to residential use.
Despite its heritage status, the building is on Historic England’s register of at-risk buildings.
“The condition of the existing building is very poor, owing to water leakage and a lack of maintenance over many years,” Historic England stated in a report.
Its new owners said they intend to “sensitively restore” the building and bring it back into use as 11 apartments, ranging between one and three bedrooms in size.
“Looking at the scheme as a whole and given it's on the at-risk register, I fail to see the harm and it looks like a huge improvement’,” said Councillor Jim Glen, the Conservative councillor for Pimlico North.
The average price for a flat in Bayswater, where Lancaster Gate is located, is £1.128 million, while average house prices are over £2.4 million (Hamptons & Land Registry).
Previous planning applications made in 2013 and 2017 had been refused and withdrawn respectively for failing to address questions of heritage preservation and affordable housing.
At the planning meeting, the Labour councillor for Maida Vale Councillor Nafsika Butler-Thalassis questioned why these plans will not include any affordable units, either.
The UK’s National Planning Policy Framework stipulates that only residential schemes developing 10 units or less are exempt from delivering affordable options.
It was stated that installing a separate entrance and lift for affordable units at the Grade-II listed building Lancaster Gate would risk harming the heritage site and make the cost of the project unviable.
Instead, the developers will pay £1,421,858 in lieu to Westminster council’s affordable housing fund.
The old Averard Hotel isn't the only historic building in Bayswater being turned into homes.
Edwardian-era department store Whiteley's is being turned into a 139 new residences — and a Six Senses hotel and spa.
