New Premier Inn in Cornwall at St Ives care home site: consultation events

A public exhibition is now being held this month to share proposals from Whitbread, the parent company of Premier Inn, for the site of the Trewidden Care Home in Trewidden Road, next to Trenwith Car Park.

The company said: “The proposed hotel has been designed to a high environmental standard in a contemporary style, with design touches that reference existing architecture in St Ives. “The proposed hotel would be clad with copper as a nod to the mining at Wheal Trenwith which operated close to the site.”

It added that in line with Whitbread’s target to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2040, the hotel would include several sustainable design features.

The building would be energy efficient and be powered by renewable energy drawn from the grid and generated on-site by photovoltaic (PV) cells.

The design would also look to minimise water consumption through low-flow water fittings throughout the hotel. A living roof that doubles as a rainwater collection and attenuation system is also being considered.

An architect sketch of Premier Inn St Ives looking east from Trewidden Road (Image: Whitbread)

Whitbread said that, if approved, more than £10 million would be invested into building the hotel and 30 new permanent jobs, in a variety of roles, would be created on opening.

It also estimated that guests of the St Ives Premier Inn would spend around £2.5 million per year in the local economy, including £1.2 million that it expected to be spent during the off-peak season.

Louise Woodruff, property acquisitions manager at Whitbread, said: “This Premier Inn hotel would provide an affordable destination for leisure and business travellers in St Ives throughout the year.

“We would be bringing a different style of accommodation to the town than is currently available and create permanent employment with the UK’s leading hotel business. As many of our guests go out to eat and drink locally when staying with us, the proposed hotel would also make a significant contribution to the local economy year-round.

“Like so many visitors to Cornwall, I have long enjoyed staying in St Ives. It’s a special place for me and so many others and we have taken a good deal of time to design a hotel that is fitting for the town and would bring many long-term benefits to St Ives.”

The Trewidden Care home site already has planning permission for a 39-bedroom aparthotel that was granted in 2016 and would occupy a large portion of the site if built. The York Hotel operated from the building until the 1980s and, if approved, Premier Inn’s plans would bring the site back to this original use through the development of a new hotel building, said Whitbread.

An architect sketch of the proposed Premier Inn St Ives, looking west from Trewidden Road (Image: Whitbread)

As Premier Inn works up its plans, two public consultation events and an online webinar are taking place in St Ives during October for people from the local community to view the plans in detail, ask questions to Premier Inn and its development team and give feedback.

The in-person events will take place on:

• Tuesday, October 11, from 2pm to 7.30pm at St Ives Leisure Centre, Trenwith Burrows, TR26 1HB

• Wednesday, October 12, 10am to 3pm, in the Greta Williams Room at St Ives Library, Gabriel Street, TR26 2LX

The online webinar will be held on Tuesday, October 18, from 6pm until 7.30pm, where the development team will be on hand to describe the proposed design and discuss the operations of the new hotel. To register for the webinar, visit the dedicated website for the proposed development at www.premierinn-stives.co.uk

The recording of the webinar, together with the materials from the in-person consultation events, will be permanently available on the Premier Inn St Ives website following the events.

Trewidden Care Home is made up of 39 beds and Whitbread said the current residents of the home, their families and the on-site care team had been informed of the plans to redevelop the site by Cornwallis Care Services, which operates the home.

The care home will continue to operate during the planning of the proposed new hotel. If planning permission is granted, the intention is to offer the residents of the Trewidden Care Home the opportunity to transfer to a new residential care home that is currently being constructed in Penzance and is due to complete this autumn.

A planning application for the proposed hotel is anticipated to be submitted to Cornwall Council before Christmas 2022.

Whitbread currently operates four Premier Inn hotels in west Cornwall, at Camborne, Hayle, Helston and Penzance.