Developer delight as Bricks Group's £30 million hotel gets planning permission after three year battle so Inverness will get a Courtyard by Marriott with 155 rooms bringing 100 construction jobs and 65 for hotel staff
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The company behind the hotel which will controversially demolish the Ironworks to build a Courtyard by Marriott hotel says it is "absolutely delighted" after it finally go planning permission.
However it does not mean the Ironworks will stop working as the hotel developer Bricks Group says it will meet with the venue's management to work out "a mutually agreeable timetable."
Despite numerous setbacks including once being refused planning outright and having to return to the literal drawing board the company persisted in its plans.
At one stage it even considered opting to develop another project – a halls of residence for students – which did have planning permission.
Now Allan Davidson, the Invernessian who is chief operating officer of Bricks Group, said: "We’re absolutely delighted that we’ve been successful and that we can look forward to providing my home city with a new hotel to meet the demand which industry experts have predicted.
“We will now sit down with the Iron Works management with the aim of reaching a mutually agreeable timetable.
“This approval brings a £30 million inward investment to Inverness and will assist the city centre’s economic recovery. There will be 65 full-time jobs in addition to more than 100 jobs in the construction phase.
“It has been a long journey to reach this point but we liaised very closely with the Highland Council planners and its Historic Environment Team and Design Review Panel to make the amendments which allowed them all to recommend approval.
“We’ll be taking stock of the situation and devising an action plan to deliver, in due course, a project which will be an asset to the city.”
