Work starts on £20m hotel development

Work has started on a £20m hotel development in the Ropewalks area of Liverpool.Contractor Newry Construction has begun work on the Times Hotel by Vincent for developer Elliot Group. The 116-room Seel Street hotel, a later addition to Elliot Group’s neighbouring £40m Wolstenholme Square project, will be operated by hospitality entrepreneur Paul Adams who is the brainchild behind Southport’s Vincent Hotel and the Vincent Café & Cocktail Bar at Liverpool’s Exchange Flags.The hotel, which is scheduled to open in late spring 2018, will include a rooftop pool and spa.Wolstenholme Square was laid out in 1750 but much of the square was damaged in the Blitz, with buildings replaced by low-density warehousing in the 1950s.Wolstenholme Square will include 447 studio and one-bedroom apartments spread across four blocks upon completion. A further site to the rear of the development has recently been purchased from social care charity PSS, paving the way for a £36m mixed-use extension to the Falconer Chester Hall-designed scheme.