Turning Plymouth’s landmark Drake’s Island into a high-class hotel destination would cost up to £22million – but its new owner is confident it can be done.
Morgan Phillips, managing director of Plymouth Sound Properties Ltd, which has just bought the island , wants to start work as soon as possible on turning it into a tourist trap.
Although the newly formed Plymouth Sound Properties vehicle has only just acquired the six-acre island, a few hundred yards off-shore in Plymouth Sound, it already has planning permission for a hotel development.
There is consent for already existing buildings, including a Grade-II listed Barracks and Ablutions block, to become a “high-quality” 43 bedroom hotel and for the Casemates, listed as an Ancient Monument, to be turned into luxury suites.
This planning approval was secured by former owner Dan McCauley and his Rotolok engineering firm.
Mr Phillips said the overall redevelopment of Drake’s Island would cost between £17million and £22million, including the undisclosed purchase price for the plot. It was sold with a guide price of £6million.
The businessman, whose Guardian Industrial UK (GIUK) company procures and ships engineering gear to nations such as Georgia and Kazakhstan and is involved in major construction schemes in the South West, said he planned to “repair and preserve” the buildings already on the island though said there could be some limited new building, such as the permitted scenic lift which will bring visitors from the landing jetty to the Governor’s House.
“There could be a lift shaft to make access to the island safe,” he said and explained he is already in talks with Natural England and Historic England.
The 54-year-old, who has visited the island four times, said the project could be paid for partly by his own firms’ resources, but also from international financial institutions and possibly some grant funding.
He said: “I want to take Dan McCauley’s vision and put a hotel in, but we might change that slightly and have a heritage centre.”
He said this could containing information about the island’s history as a strategic military fort, and he also wants the public to eventually be able to visit he island “365 days a year”.
Mr Phillips said: “We want to open the island 365 days a year to the general public. There are a lot of discussions with experts about how we run an exclusive hotel and allow the general public to use it, but we know it can be done.”
He said there could even be public access during the redevelopment phase, and added: “We want to do chaperoned trips while we are working on it, so people are safe. It would be limited.”
Mr Phillips said he is already in talks with river boat cruise firms about the potential for landing visitors on the island.
He is unable to give a start date for work on the island, only that he wanted to begin as soon as possible.
But he said that was dependent on carrying out more surveys on the ecological a historically sensitive site.
He is, however, confident that logistical challenges can be overcome. With an engineering background, and having been involved in several high-pressure developments including creating an underground system in Baku, Azerbaijan, Mr Phillips already has civil and structural engineers working for him.
“We have been involved in other projects,” he said. “That has been invaluable, and we are hitting the ground running.
“It’s going to be a very difficult project and will take a while to put into operation, but we have the right people and want the people of he city to help us.”
And as for realising the dream? He said: “That is a difficult question, we have to get through these surveys to find out how long it will take. But we want to keep the people of Plymouth informed.”
