Kamal Pankhania has outlined plans for a £20 million hotel and housing development in Hampton Wick, as his Westcombe Group expands its hospitality business.
Westcombe has announced planning approval to transform Kingston Bridge House, a former student accommodation building on Church Grove, into a Hotel Indigo and 22 apartments, including four affordable homes.
Pankhania said the redevelopment would bring new jobs and visitors to the area.
“We are transforming a formerly vacant building into new homes, affordable housing and a five-star luxury hotel that will bring jobs, prosperity and thousands of visitors into the local area each year,” said the group’s chief executive.
The hotel will form part of Westcombe’s Acre Hotels collection and operate under IHG Hotels & Resorts’ Hotel Indigo brand. It will include a bar, restaurant and conference spaces, alongside the scheme’s one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments.
For Pankhania, the project also signals ambitions beyond Hampton Wick.
“I am particularly proud that the hotel will be branded as Hotel Indigo,” he said.
“IHG is one of the most respected names in global hospitality and we see this project as marking the start of a long and successful relationship between our two businesses, here in the UK and overseas.”
An economic impact assessment cited by Westcombe forecasts around 50 on-site jobs once the development is completed and approximately 9,000 hotel visitors each year.
It also projects £4.3 million in annual retail and leisure spending in the local economy, alongside approximately £195,000 a year in Council Tax and business rates.
Willemijn Geels, IHG’s vice president for development in Europe, said Hampton Wick’s “rich history, riverside setting and strong local identity” made it a natural fit for Hotel Indigo.
“We look forward to creating a distinctive hotel for guests and the local community,” she said.
Westcombe has not yet announced a construction timetable or opening date for the hotel.
