The structural foundations for the new 120 bedroom Premier Inn hotel in Torquay are now set, ready for the construction of the main frame to start.

The £11M project is being built on part of Terrace Car Park and will complement existing hotel accommodation in Torquay, bring long term benefits to the town centre, businesses and the community.

Localised excavation has been undertaken and concrete foundations have been built to enable works above ground. Over the next month, the works on the ground floor slab, car park structure, drainage and incoming services will take place.

Councillor Swithin Long, Torbay Council Cabinet Member for Economic Regeneration, Tourism and Housing, said: “This is a significant milestone for the project. It won’t be long before the hotel begins to rise out of the ground. It will attract thousands of guests each year and bring in an additional £3.3M of tourism spend. The hotel will generate new employment of around 30 permanent jobs and over 150 jobs during construction supporting the Council’s commitment to building wealth locally.”

The significance of the project goes beyond the construction of a new, purpose-built branded hotel operated by one of the UK’s leading hotel operators. To date, the project has provided over 70 weeks of training on site for apprentices. There have also been 16 site visits to provide construction careers information to cohorts of young people. Additionally, the project workforce has achieved qualifications and industry recognised certificates through training plans. All this helps achieve a key local priority, raising employment and skills in Torbay.

Mike Borkowski, Business Development Director for Midas said: “Heading into Torbay’s crucial summer months, visitors and locals alike can now see the impressive scale and commanding position of the new Premier Inn overlooking the harbour.

“Our commitment to keep the project spend as local as possible continues and during the next stage of the project we’ll see even more local apprentices and trainees gaining some valuable project experience in Torbay.”