It's been a while since we heard that the BT Tower is going to become a luxury hotel, but further details on the project have now emerged, ahead of public consultations next week.
MCR Hotels — the company which owns around 150 hotels worldwide, including the Eero Saarinen-designed TWA Hotel at JFK Airport in New York City — purchased the lofty London icon in 2024 for £275m, with the aim of turning it into a "hotel‑led, mixed‑use development".
Though we can assume rooms at the Orms Architects-designed hotel will not be thrifty, MCR has now hinted at a handful of things the public will benefit from, chief among them, access to the top of the tower (a privilege currently only afforded to a few occasional ballot winners) and a rooftop swimming pool (we THINK this will be public too). In its early days, the tower had a 120-seat revolving restaurant, plus viewing galleries, but both have been shut for decades.
Other boons for the project, says MCR, will be "a new publicly accessible square", "exciting new retail shops and restaurants" and "public realm improvements, making the surrounding streets greener, safer, and more pedestrian-friendly."
While most admirers of the BT Tower will surely be pleased to see it preserved, many will be waiting with bated breath to see how much it'll cost them to go up it.
Three initial public consultations will be held at the Jeremy Bentham Room, University College London, 23-25 Gower Street on:
Monday, 11 May
5.30pm-7.30pm
Tuesday 12 May
5.30pm-7.30pm
Saturday 16 May
11.30am-1.30pm
A virtual feedback form will also be available on the consultation site from 5.30pm on 11 May.
As yet, no estimated opening date has been announced for the hotel.
