Gleeson Building, the contractor that bought itself out of parent company MJ Gleeson last year, has formed a joint venture company to target the three-star hotel market.

Gleeson Building has teamed up with Oxford Hotel Projects, a development company focused on the hotel and leisure sectors, to form Oxford GB.

The joint-venture company is aiming to identify sites in urban and business park locations across the UK to build up to 15 hotels. The whole project would be worth about £180m to Gleeson Building.

Oxford GB has already submitted a planning application for a hotel in Luton, and is hoping to start on site there in autumn this year. It has also identified Leeds and Manchester as locations for two of the hotels.

Simon Wood, chairman of the new board, said: "We have had significant interest from several brands to operate the hotels."

Each hotel is expected to include 150 bedrooms, internet access, meeting rooms, restaurant, bar and health and fitness facilities.