The owner of Premier Inn has been granted planning permission to rebuild its Cribbs Causeway hotel which was destroyed by fire last year.
A blaze at the site in July 2019 saw the previous 177-bedroom hotel and restaurant severely damaged.
Whitbread, which has secured planning consent from South Gloucestershire Council, will now clear the site and build a 183-bed hotel and restaurant for 150 people.
The new design will follow the same 'u-shaped' building footprint as the old hotel but will look more “up-to-date”, according to Whitbread, which said it expected to complete the building work in 2021.
The section of the building facing on to Cribbs Causeway will also be raised by a storey to accommodate an undercroft car parking area, the hotel group said.
Richard Aldread, Head of Construction in the UK regions and Ireland at Whitbread, said: “Getting the green light to rebuild the Cribbs Causeway Premier Inn is positive news for Whitbread and Bristol.
“We committed early to rebuilding the hotel following the 2019 fire and our new design will deliver a latest specification Premier Inn in an important and popular location.
“We have been working on the plans for many months but with planning permission now granted, we’re looking forward to getting onto site later this summer.”
In its report to councillors, planning officers praised the architectural style of the new hotel and restaurant, and the proposed landscaping around the site.
It was also noted the new hotel and restaurant would have a BREEAM ‘very good’ rating by achieving an additional 35 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions over and above the standards set in the Building Regulations 2013.
The approved Cribbs Causeway hotel and restaurant was designed by Axiom Architects and TowerEight has been appointed to project manage the build.
Whitbread said that when it opens, the hotel will operate with strict safety measures in place, including hand sanitiser, screens at check-in and floor markings to enforce social distancing.
