Silverstone appointed as Passivhaus status sought

Octopi Property has tasked the building consultancy with project management duties for a 20-bedroom hotel called Cliffemount, near Whitby.

The developer is hoping that the hotel, at Runswick Bay, will be the first in the UK to achieve Passivhaus accreditation. Bowman Riley’s Leeds office is the scheme architect.

Subject to a green light from planners, the sustainable development will involve demolishing an existing 20-bed hotel and constructing a new, 19,321 sq ft high-spec facility with an expanded restaurant and bar offer on the ground floor.

The building has been designed to deliver very high thermal and airtightness performance, meaning the property will require a much lower amount of energy to heat and maintain temperature than a standard construction.

The Passivhaus benchmark is more commonly aspired to by new-build housing projects and is seldom used on commercial buildings. If Cliffemount obtains the accreditation, it will become the first Passivhaus-accredited hotel in the UK.

Josh Brown, associate director at Silverstone Building Consultancy, said: “We were originally instructed to carry out a building survey for the existing hotel and following the successful completion of that, we have won the privilege of working on this very exciting, prestigious project.

“We are looking forward to getting started – hopefully starting on site by the end of Q1 next year.”

The hotel was acquired in 2022 by Karen Foit and her family, who said they want to give something back to the local area after spending many happy family holidays at the Bay over 15 years.

Octopi director Melissa Tomlinson said: “We want to limit the impact the development has on the environment and the local community which is one of main reasons we chose to aim for Passivhaus status.

“Silverstone fully understand what we are trying to achieve and are highly experienced in delivering new hotels so they were an obvious choice as project managers and we’re confident the project is in safe hands.”

Subject to planning consent, construction is due to begin in late spring 2024.

Silverstone Building Consultancy, a firm of chartered building surveyors and project managers with offices in Leeds, Newcastle and London, has previously managed the restoration of a number of hotels for other clients in the sector, including The Inn Collection Group’s The Harrogate Inn, completed in July this year, and The Ripon Inn.

The hotel will have 20 bedrooms. Credit: via Bradley O’Mahoney