Whitbread PLC, the UK’s largest hotel business and owner of the Premier Inn brand, has started construction on its latest hotel project in Manchester. The new 10-storey, 229-bedroom Premier Inn is being built on Rochdale Road, just north of Manchester city centre, in the iconic Northern Quarter. The construction will be led by GMI Construction Group, which was appointed as the principal contractor in July 2024.
The Rochdale Road project is part of Whitbread’s strategic investment in Manchester, where the hotel chain is expanding its presence in under-served areas. The new Premier Inn will feature the company’s latest room designs, including the popular enhanced Premier Plus rooms, and will offer a stylish integrated restaurant, bar, and reception space on the ground floor.
Whitbread’s Project and Programme Manager, Will Steward, emphasised the importance of Manchester as a key location for the company’s expansion. “Manchester is a hot spot for Whitbread’s development team as we expand our hotel network in the places we want to grow. The Rochdale Road Premier Inn will bring our very best product to the north of the Northern Quarter – an area of the city where we are not heavily represented and where we know our customers want Premier Inn to be.”
The Rochdale Road development site was acquired by Whitbread from Premcor in February 2024. Since then, the company has been working to revive the stalled project, securing GMI Construction as the contractor and pushing ahead with the necessary steps to begin building. The project is expected to be completed in 2026, adding another major hotel to Whitbread’s portfolio in Manchester, where it already operates more than 20 locations.
Steward added: “As an operating hotel business, our goal is to turn our development sites into popular hotels for our guests quickly. Since acquiring the Rochdale Road site in February, we have done an awful lot to enable the once stalled scheme to proceed, and with building work now underway, we are on our way to having a new location for our customers to enjoy in 2026.”
The Rochdale Road hotel is just one of several strategic investments Whitbread has made in Manchester this year. In September 2024, the company announced plans to build the largest Premier Inn in the north of England at Manchester Airport, in partnership with MIX Manchester. Earlier in the year, it also announced the sale of its Manchester City Centre (Deansgate Locks) hotel for redevelopment into alternative uses.
GMI Construction’s Regional Director, Anthony Judge, highlighted the ongoing collaboration between GMI and Whitbread, following their successful partnership on a Premier Inn development in Keswick. “It’s brilliant to see our partnership go from strength to strength. This latest development in the iconic Northern Quarter of Manchester will be a striking new addition to the skyline with its remarkable brickwork façade. We are delighted to be a part of this major project and look forward to progressing with this scheme.”
The new Premier Inn at Rochdale Road will become one of the largest Whitbread hotels in Manchester, cementing the company’s commitment to expanding its presence in the city and providing more accommodation options for both business and leisure travellers.
