Construction work on the stalled Silken hotel in London, designed by Foster + Partners, is expected to restart in January after bank BBVA decided to develop the scheme rather than sell it

The decision came after the bank received 150 expressions of interest from potential buyers thought to include investors, developers and hotel operators from Asia and Russia.

A source close to the scheme said none of the offers was high enough; the half-finished site on Aldwych was thought to be on the market for at least £110m and was put up for sale in October.

The project was put into administration in July by main creditor BBVA and Pricewaterhouse Coopers was appointed as receiver after developer Urvasco ran into financial difficulty.

Another source close to the scheme said: “We have been told the job is scheduled to restart in early January.”

Last week the entire supply chain was told it would remain on the scheme

Source close to project

It is not clear at this stage whether main contractor Cantillon will remain on the scheme. But one source said the project’s Spanish QS, IDOM, would take on a project management role to ensure it did not run into more difficulties.

The source added: “Last week the entire supply chain was told it would remain on the scheme, including Foster + Partners.”

It is understood there are still about £4m of payments outstanding to the supply chain and that these will be repaid. The target completion date is December 2010.

The high level of interest in the UK hotel sector from abroad comes a month after Travelodge announced it would invest £47m opening 10 new hotels in 2010, in cities including London, Edinburgh and Manchester. The Intercontinental Hotel Group is also investing £600m in updating 3,200 Holiday Inns worldwide.

Topics