Dalata to invest £48m in developing first Edinburgh hotel

Dalata Hotel Group has acquired a development site in Edinburgh as it looks to expand into a location it said had “long been a target city”.

The site, located on 28 St. Andrew’s Square, cost £12.5m and is set to receive a total investment of £48m.

It includes a Category A listed building that is currently vacant and approved for office use. The property came with planning permission for an extension to the rooftop and the rear of the building.

Dalata plans to submit a revised planning application in Q1 2024 to construct a four-star Clayton hotel on the site by mid-2026.

The new hotel is set to have 153 bedrooms, a bar, restaurant, dry gym and two large meeting rooms.

It will create roughly 60 new jobs and become one of the group’s first hotels to operate with zero on-site carbon emissions.

Dermot Crowley, chief executive of Dalata, said: “Edinburgh has long been a target city for us to locate our brands and we are delighted to have secured such a prestigious building in the centre of the city.

"This will be our third hotel in Scotland. In the year to date, we have announced four new opportunities in three of the strongest city hotel markets in Europe - London, Amsterdam and Edinburgh. We will continue to seek out further opportunities in our target markets.”

This week, the group also announced it had acquired the leasehold of the Hard Rock Hotel Amsterdam American in Amsterdam, which it will rebrand as the Clayton Hotel Amsterdam American.

Dalata, which is Ireland’s largest hotel operator, also launched the Maldron Hotel Glasgow City in 2021 and Clayton Hotel Glasgow City in 2022. Its portfolio features 53 properties across the UK and continental Europe.