The proposed hotel tower at Bavaria House — which would be the tallest hotel in the City of London once completed — has hit another roadblock amid concerns that its planning process does not cover sufficient environmental impact.
An Aug. 21 letter to the London Borough of Hackney’s planning and regulatory services said the development’s “current scoping note does not provide the level of information normally expected to provide a formal Environmental Impact Assessment scoping opinion under Regulation 15(3) of the EIA Regulations 2017.”
The developer’s proposal for the 13–14 Appold St. property is for the demolition of the building and the construction of a higher tower comprising 340,085 square feet. The building would have 45 above-ground floors and four basement levels, with the hotel component touted to have 416 guestrooms on 26 of those 45 levels.
The planning consent is made more complicated because the property sits on the border of two London boroughs: Hackney and Tower Hamlets. Hackney is the primary planning authority in the development.
The project still needs final approval and the construction timeline would likely take years.
Bavaria House has faced numerous changes over the last decade. Local planning officials first granted permits for the property in 2016, and the building has remained unused since then.
China-based Giant Mind Properties Group bought the property from MasterWorks Development Corp. for £64 million ($87 million) in 2021. In October 2024, Giant Mind selected Savills and CBRE to "market the freehold interest in Bavaria House" for a guide price of £75 million, CoStar News’ Paul Norman reports.
According to Green Street News, private firm Maya Capital acquired Bavaria House’s freehold interest from Giant Mind for approximately £60 million in 2025.
A website for Bavaria House, a community initiative inviting planning developments and asking for evidence and concerns, says the developer of the hotel is to be Altius Real Estate, and the chosen operator is to be Motel One, which plans on putting its Cloud One brand over the door.
The tallest building in the U.K. and Western Europe that contains a hotel is The Shard in London, which is in the borough of Southwark. It contains the 202-room Shangri-La The Shard, London.