Construction milestone reached on site for two hotels at Manchester Airport

A major construction milestone has been reached with the topping out of two hotel developments at Manchester Airport, for which Chapman Taylor is acting as Executive Architect.

An island site immediately opposite Terminal 2 will host two new-build hotels for well-known hotel brands – a 4-Star, full-service Holiday Inn hotel and a 3-Star, select-service ibis Budget hotel.

At street level, the development will present active exteriors to Palma Avenue and, within the site, to the publicly accessible external areas. This will create a visually continuous and open frontage to guests upon arrival, whether via vehicle, or on foot.

The two landmark buildings at Manchester's Airport City will create a gateway to Terminal 2, aiding navigation into the airport from the airport spur and presenting a high quality of design to the external road network.

The 280-room Holiday Inn Manchester Airport will feature the brand’s signature Open Lobby, which combines the front desk, lobby, restaurant, bar, lounge and business centre into one versatile area. It will also feature a new full-service restaurant located on the ground floor, which has been designed to attract guests from both hotels.

Room types including standard, twin, family, executive and accessible will be offered across six floors, while the southern corner of the sixth floor has been tailored to create a terrace for guests, overlooking the airfield. Meanwhile, the seventh floor will feature a canopied terrace and crew lounge which will look north over Airport City Manchester towards Manchester city centre.

The new ibis Budget Manchester Airport will offer 262 rooms over seven levels. The hotel will offer four room types – Double, Triple, Twin and Accessible. Ibis Budget offers its guests comfortable rooms, free Wi-Fi and a gourmet breakfast buffet.

The £45 million project is aimed at supporting the future development of the Airport City district and the predicted passenger growth of the airport itself.

Chapman Taylor, appointed by Main Contractor Beijing Construction Engineering Group International (BCEGI), inherited the designs for the plot at Stage 3 and is developing the design as Executive Architect through work stages 4-6. Construction of the hotels began in January 2020 and they are expected to complete in early 2022.