Bank's former offices set to be turned into hotel

A bank’s former offices in Glasgow is set to be turned into a 149-bedroom hotel.

Scotland’s first Melia Hotel can open at 250 St Vincent Street after permission was granted by the council.

A restaurant, lounge and bar, which will be open to the public, have also been earmarked for the site, as part of plans which would create 40 full-time equivalent jobs.

“The development will bring a long-standing vacant office building back into beneficial use, reinstating the grandeur of the building and returning it to its original use as a hotel,” the application from Union Properties said.

“Melia Hotels International, one of the largest hotel companies in the world, currently operate four Melia hotels in England, including three in London and one in Manchester, with a further two currently under development in Newcastle and Liverpool.

“This development will bring the first Melia branded hotel to Scotland with the introduction of the Innside by Melia brand to this prime location.”

Work on the category B-listed building will include the “careful repair and conservation of the historic facades” as well as “reinstating a number of external features which had been lost as part of a 1980s redevelopment”.

Designed as a hotel by architect James Thomson, the property was constructed in 1878 and underwent “substantial redevelopment works” in the late 1980s when it became offices for the Royal Bank of Scotland.

A planning report said: “The building was operated as an office by Royal Bank of Scotland from the late 1980s until 2016 when it was partially vacated before being vacated entirely at the beginning of 2018.

“Since then, the building has been extensively marketed as available office space with no notes of interest.”

Story by local democracy reporter Drew Sandelands