The Birmingham office of Drivers Jonas Deloitte has secured planning approval for the development of a new Travelodge in Birmingham city centre on behalf of Realis Estates.

The £7 million project will see the development of an 88 bedroom hotel and a 4,000 sq ft retail unit within the scheme’s ground floor, street facing level. The site is situated on the former Marks and Spencer’s car park at Carrs Lane in the city’s retail centre.

Realis will provide much needed investment in what is currently a derelict gateway site in the city centre.

Appointed in June 2009, Drivers Jonas Deloitte has provided planning services for the project from its inception.

Mike Davies, Real Estate and Planning Director for Drivers Jonas Deloitte commented:

“Having secured an opportunity to kick start regeneration of an under utilised area of Birmingham’s city centre, Realis Estates appointed us to deliver specialist planning and neighbourly matters advice and prepare and submit a full planning application.  We are delighted to have been successful in moving the project forward by achieving planning permission this month. Work is due to start on this key strategic site in the heart of Birmingham’s retail centre in the next couple of months, with delivery planned in September 2011.

”With the rise of the ‘staycation’ as result of the current climate, we are seeing more demand for good quality hotels in our UK cities. The imminent development of the Travelodge is therefore good news for Birmingham’s tourism economy, as well as the retail and service industries within the region.”

As part of the commitment to developing the site Realis invested in a detailed archaeological assessment of the site which provided the City Council’s conservation team of further details of former uses on this site during the medieval period.

Ollie Mitchell of Realis Estates added:

“We are delighted that Drivers Jonas Deloitte has helped us to secure planning permission for the new Travelodge hotel and convenience food store in Birmingham City Centre. The development is set to enhance the hotel offer in this part of the city, as well as offering local residents the opportunity to shop conveniently on their doorstep.”

The Architect on the scheme is The Harris Partnership.

The Archaeology Consultants on the scheme were CgMs.