Caddick Construction Appointed to Deliver £46m Room2 Hotel on Leeds Lisbon Street Regeneration Site
- Michael Ghobrial
- 6 hours ago
- 5 min read
Caddick Construction has been appointed main contractor on a new £46m, 16-storey room2 hotel in Leeds city centre, after developers Marrico and Helios Real Estate secured forward funding from Aberdeen Investments. Work starts on site in May 2026 on the former Leeds International Swimming Pool site, with completion targeted for spring 2028, adding 200 rooms to the city's fast-growing hospitality stock.
Project Overview
Location: Lisbon Street, West End, Leeds city centre, Yorkshire.
Client/developer: Marrico and Helios Real Estate (co-developers), with Aberdeen Investments as the forward funder.
Hotel operator: room2, Lamington Group's aparthotel brand.
Main contractor: Caddick Construction.
Contract value: £46m.
Scale: 16 storeys, 200 rooms (mix of studios and suites for short and extended stays).
Ground floor: Winnie's café and bar, meeting and events space, gym, laundry and retail units.
Programme: Site start May 2026, completion spring 2028.
Sustainability: Fully electric, renewable energy-powered, low-carbon hospitality brief.
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Delivery Partners and Key Stakeholders
Main contractor: Caddick Construction's Yorkshire and North East division is responsible for full design-and-build delivery, from site establishment in May 2026 through to practical completion in spring 2028.
Developers: Marrico and Helios Real Estate are co-developing the scheme, having worked collaboratively to bring the Lisbon Street site through planning and into funding.
Forward funder: Aberdeen Investments has provided £46m in forward funding, unlocking the project following what the developer described as a significant milestone in the scheme's progression.
Hotel operator: room2 by Lamington Group will operate the hotel under its aparthotel brand, designed for both short and extended stays with a focus on sustainability and community.
Architect: DLA Architecture has led the design, creating a fully electric, renewable-powered 16-storey building with a distinctive presence on Lisbon Street.
Structural consultant: Richard Boothroyd & Associates is supporting the design team on structural engineering.
Local authority: Leeds City Council has granted planning consent and supports the scheme as part of the wider Lisbon Street regeneration in the city's West End.
Construction and Technical Details
The 16-storey tower will rise on the former Leeds International Swimming Pool site, a landmark brownfield plot that has been long-earmarked for regeneration as part of the broader Lisbon Street masterplan in Leeds' West End. Caddick will deliver 200 hotel rooms across a mix of studios and suites, specifically designed to serve both short-break visitors and extended-stay guests, who increasingly demand a hybrid of hotel services and residential comfort.
At ground level, the building will activate the streetscape with Winnie's branded café and bar, meeting and events space, a gym, laundry facilities and retail units. This mix of uses is important for the scheme's contribution to wider West End regeneration, creating a live frontage that draws in passing foot traffic and supports the emerging neighbourhood rather than turning inward as a self-contained hotel block.
The building will be fully electric and powered by renewable energy, designed by DLA Architecture in line with room2's low-carbon hospitality commitment. This means fossil fuel-based heating and hot water systems are excluded from the specification, likely replaced by air-source heat pumps and efficient mechanical ventilation. Renewable energy supply, potentially including rooftop photovoltaics, will underpin the net-zero-aligned operational model. Richard Boothroyd & Associates is supporting the structural engineering.
Technically, the project faces the typical constraints of a central Leeds site: tight working envelope, proximity to live roads and neighbouring properties, and a programme that must deliver 16 storeys within a 23-month window. Caddick's established track record in city-centre construction across Yorkshire and the North East gives it a strong platform for managing these logistics.
Timeline
The £46m forward funding agreement with Aberdeen Investments was confirmed in late March 2026, marking what Marrico's development director Scott Barnes described as a highly collaborative process and a significant milestone in the project's development. With funding in place, Caddick Construction will mobilise on site in May 2026, beginning site preparation and enabling works on the former swimming pool site.
The 23-month construction programme runs from May 2026 to spring 2028, covering substructure, superstructure, envelope, internal fit-out and commissioning of all hotel systems. The spring 2028 completion aligns with peak trading season, giving room2 and Lamington Group the opportunity to open the hotel at a commercially advantageous time in the Leeds hospitality calendar.
Strategic Importance
For Leeds, the Lisbon Street room2 hotel is a meaningful addition to the West End's regeneration narrative. The former swimming pool site has been a gap in the urban fabric for years, and a 16-storey, fully electric hotel with active ground-floor uses will contribute both physical and economic substance to a corridor that Marrico has already demonstrated confidence in, having also delivered the 548-bed Threadworks PBSA scheme nearby and with plans for two further build-to-rent towers in the pipeline.
For the UK hospitality and construction sectors, the project reflects broader trends in how hotels are being conceived and funded. The room2 aparthotel model, blending short and extended stays with a strong sustainability narrative, reflects demand shifts driven by remote working, longer leisure trips and corporate travel policies that increasingly prioritise green credentials. Forward funding from an institutional investor like Aberdeen Investments signals that low-carbon hospitality assets are attracting mainstream real estate capital.
For Caddick Construction, the appointment consolidates its position as one of Yorkshire's leading city-centre contractors. Coming alongside other major Leeds commissions, including the SOYO neighbourhood and South Village regeneration, the Lisbon Street hotel adds another landmark scheme to a portfolio that is helping to redefine the city's skyline and economy.
Writer's Opinion
The Lisbon Street room2 hotel is an efficient and well-timed piece of development. The funding structure, with a credible institutional backer in Aberdeen Investments, an experienced contractor in Caddick and a proven operator in room2, removes much of the risk that trips up speculative hotel schemes. That the project is also fully electric and renewable-powered suggests the development team has taken sustainability seriously rather than treating it as a marketing line.
What stands out from a construction-industry perspective is the speed of mobilisation: forward funding secured in late March 2026, site start in May 2026. That two-month gap from financial close to breaking ground reflects the value of having a contractor embedded in pre-construction early, de-risking logistics, procurement and programme before a spade is in the ground.
For Emilecon readers, the project is a reminder that Yorkshire's hospitality and mixed-use sectors continue to generate substantial construction pipelines, even as national headlines focus on London and megaprojects. Regional cities like Leeds, with strong tourism, a growing student population and an active professional workforce, are sustaining a healthy flow of hotel, PBSA and build-to-rent commissions that reward contractors and consultants who understand local market dynamics and build genuine long-term relationships with regional developers.
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