Devon hotel to turn care home into staff accommodation amid housing shortage

The owner of Devon’s Burgh Island hotel has purchased a former care home to turn into staff accommodation due to a shortage of housing in the area.

Giles Fuchs is to invest £500,000 into refurbishing the site, which when complete will include 22 ensuite double bedrooms, gardens, and a gym.

Burgh Island hotel is located on a private island off the coast of the village of Bigbury-on-Sea and can only be accessed by sea tractor at high tide.

At the height of summer, it employs almost 100 members of staff but there are only 16 staff bedrooms on the island.

The average property price in the area now exceeds £418,000, according to Land Registry figures, and Fuchs said staff struggled to find somewhere to live nearby.

“South Hams is very expensive both in terms of rent and house prices, which makes it difficult for people to pursue a career in hospitality,” said Fuchs.

He added that it was a challenge to create accommodation for staff given the hotel’s remote location.

In 2018, as the hotel expanded, it bought Warren Cottage in Bigbury-on-Sea to help house staff who were based further away from the island, but it soon became clear more accommodation was needed.

Korniloff was originally built as a hotel in the early part of the last century and the intention is to provide staff living quarters that match those on the island.

Fuchs said: “Once renovated [Korniloff] will allow us to provide our hard-working and highly valued staff with a very high standard of accommodation. Our success over the past few years would not have been possible without them so it is very much deserved.

Hospitality operators in the south-west of England previously told The Caterer that a shortage of affordable housing for staff was one of the biggest issues limiting growth in the area.