Premier Inn will be opening a new hotel in Portsea, almost adjacent to the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, one of Portsmouth’s leading attractions, housing the HMS Victory and the Mary Rose. The new £8.8M hotel is situated on Queen Street, and will contain 120 beds over 7 storeys when it opens. When the hotel (with restaurant) opens, it will create 117 jobs, whilst a further 95 jobs will be created during the hotel construction.
Local councillor Frank Jonas said: ‘We have been crying out for a hotel like this to help with peak times. Given its proximity to the Historic Dockyard, Gunwharf Quays, the station and transport interchange, it really is the ideal location for a hotel’. Liberal Democrat councillor Lee Hunt also praised the proposals, stating: ‘This is a great scheme. I like the curved nature of the building, it looks noble. You can tell that a great deal of work has gone in to reduce the impact it will have on the skyline despite its seven storeys’.
Construction began on the formerly derelict site in Spring 2018. The main contractor was Carter Lauren. Studwelders Composite Floor Decks Ltd were selected to install MetFloor 80 steel decking to the project, over the 7 storeys of the hotel. Studwelders CFD installed 4,145 square metres of ultra-long span MetFloor 80 steel decking, starting in late 2018, before pouring self-compacting, fibre-reinforced FibreDeck concrete on top of the floors, to create a lightweight, high-tensile composite flooring system. FibreDeck provides an alternative to traditional steel reinforcement meshes, and improves the tensile strength of the concrete slab.
Studwelders Composite Floor Decks Ltd also installed the panellised MetForm light guage steel framing system that will make up the load bearing walls of the hotel. The individual MetForm components, in MU, MC and ML profiles, were manufactured by CMF in their Mamhilad manufacturing facility, and assembled into panels by the Bolted Frame Company (another CFD Group company), at their neighbouring assembly plant. CMF were also responsible for manufacturing the MetFloor 80 steel decking for the project. CMF gained the capability to manufacture the MetFloor range in 2008 and the MetForm range in 2017, and is located only a few miles north from Studwelders HQ in Chepstow.
