Demolition to pave the way for UK's first Passivhaus hotel

Demolition of a once-popular hotel in North Yorkshire has started under plans to rebuild it as an ultra-low energy facility.

Stainforth Construction arrived at the Cliffemount Hotel in Runswick Bay this week (19 August) to set up and prepare for an eight-week-long demolition process. Demolition of the building itself is expected to start in the second week of September.

The new 1,795 sq m Cliffemount Hotel will be built following a strict energy-efficient design to achieve the Passivhaus international energy performance standard. If awarded, it would be the first hotel in the UK to achieve Passivhaus accreditation.

The hotel has been designed by architecture firm Bowman Riley. Chartered building surveyor Silverstone Building Consultancy will oversee its construction.

Cliffemount’s managing director, Melissa Tomlinson, said:

It’s a huge milestone for us to be able to announce that demolition is commencing. It’s taken a lot of time and effort from all involved parties to make it happen because it’s such a huge process.

The scale of the project as a whole meant it was always going to take a while for work to begin, but it has taken a little longer than expected. This is largely because we’ve never been willing to compromise on quality. We’ve always said we would consider the community in everything we do. We’ve stayed true to that to date and plan on continuing to do so.

Although the demolition is expected to be completed by mid-October, no date has been announced for work to begin on building the new Cliffemount.