Things didn’t go to plan with the Velocity Tower, near Moore Street roundabout, at the edge of the city centre.
When it was built it should have been 30-storeys high, (an application for 36-storeys was wisely rejected by planners), but construction halted on the 21st floor, as the firm behind it went into administration. A student block alongside would have reached 18-storeys, containing 41 cluster flats, but only the ground-floor podium was completed.
In 2011 the complex went on the market for £10.5million and was eventually snapped up by Dubai-based Select Group.
A few corners had been cut during the initial build, something that Select have been able to rectify as well as completing the unfinished twenty-first floor.
More importantly, it agreed a deal for a £6.5million Ibis Hotel in the footprint of the proposed student block.
Work is almost completed on the seven-storey building, designed by Whittam Cox Architects, and will provide an extra 126 beds for the city centre. A coffee shop will be created on the ground floor along with the reception and (somewhat scanty) 14 car-parking spaces.
Meanwhile, planning permission remains for the 30-storeys at Velocity Tower, although the developer says there are no plans to extend higher.
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