IN Brief:
- GMI Construction Group has been appointed principal contractor for Evans Property Group’s 140-room Dakota York hotel.
- Demolition at the 0.7-acre Rougier Street site is complete, with main construction works now commencing within York’s historic city walls.
- The eight-storey project targets BREEAM Excellent and spring 2028 completion, with air source heat pumps among the planned building systems.
GMI Construction Group has moved into the main construction phase of a 140-room Dakota hotel in central York following completion of demolition at the former Northern House offices. The eight-storey scheme is being delivered for Evans Property Group on a 0.7-acre site at Rougier Street and Tanners Moat, inside York’s medieval city walls. Completion is planned for spring 2028, subject to the construction programme.
The project extends GMI’s relationship with the Dakota brand, following hotel work in Leeds, Glasgow, Manchester city centre, Newcastle Quayside and Manchester Airport. York will be the sixth development under that relationship, but its setting presents a different delivery problem. The former office site occupies only 0.7 acres within the historic city centre, close to existing buildings and busy routes. Contractors must plan how the new structure and its services will be assembled while controlling access and deliveries on the surrounding streets.
Designed by KPP Architects, the building replaces Northern House on Rougier Street with an eight-storey hotel fronting both Rougier Street and Tanners Moat. The proposals include red-brick façades, bronze-effect detailing, a courtyard and external terraces overlooking the city. Hotel accommodation will sit alongside a brasserie-style grill and feature bar. These uses share one structure but place different demands on circulation, servicing and building systems, particularly around the publicly accessible hospitality areas.
Demolition of the former office block has been completed, enabling the contractor to move into permanent building works. The project team has not published the foundation design, structural frame or crane arrangement. On a constrained city-centre plot, those decisions interact with the available laydown space and the routes by which materials can reach the structure. Deliveries, lifting, temporary pedestrian provision and protections to neighbouring property will form part of the main construction planning.
The 140 bedrooms will have to be coordinated with public areas, kitchens, circulation routes and the external terraces. Heating, ventilation, fire protection, drainage and electrical systems need pathways through the structure and sufficient plant space, while the building envelope must integrate the planned architectural finishes. The developers have set out the main accommodation and design features, although detailed floor plans, services loads and the construction-stage sequence of those packages have not been released publicly.
Ed Weston, GMI’s regional director for Yorkshire, described the location as a prominent but constrained site surrounded by neighbouring buildings. He said the contractor was now concentrating on progressing the hotel following demolition. GMI’s previous Dakota projects provide experience of the operator’s building and fit-out requirements, but the local constraints in York will determine the practical arrangements for this particular site rather than those on the earlier schemes.
The hotel is targeting BREEAM Excellent and includes air source heat pumps and electric vehicle charging provision. Air source systems transfer heat from outdoor air into building heating circuits, making plant location, air movement, acoustics and distribution design part of the engineering work. The planned measures contribute to the environmental specification, while the eventual BREEAM rating remains dependent on assessment of the completed project. Neither final certification nor quantified operational carbon performance has been announced.
The design and delivery team includes structural engineer JPG Group, planning consultant O’Neill Associates and heritage adviser Montagu Evans. Rex Proctor & Partners acts as employer’s agent, with CBRE also advising. The presence of specialist heritage and engineering disciplines reflects the need to reconcile contemporary construction with the city’s established built environment. KPP’s architecture will be developed into buildable façade and structural packages, with coordination between trades continuing through the main works period.
City of York Council considered the Northern House redevelopment in September 2025, before the site entered its current building phase. The planning application covered a 140-room hotel, terraces, access arrangements and associated external works. The present milestone is the contractor’s progression from demolition into construction, rather than the grant of a new permission. It establishes that the cleared plot has moved into the building phase of a previously developed proposal.
Two street frontages offer separate points of access in the completed design, but that does not establish how construction deliveries will operate while the building is erected. The contractor will need an approved movement and logistics strategy covering unloading, workforce access, waste removal and the interface with surrounding highways. The site’s size limits the space available for storage and material handling, so the sequence of deliveries and lifting operations will influence day-to-day construction arrangements.
As permanent works advance, the structure will provide the setting for envelope installation and the specialist services needed by a hotel. The façade details must connect to the weatherproofing, glazing and external terraces, while the accommodation and hospitality spaces need different patterns of hot water, ventilation, and electrical provision. Coordination is especially important before finishes conceal the service routes. GMI’s principal contractor appointment puts these interfaces within the construction programme following site clearance.
Completion is planned for spring 2028. The announced scope fixes the 140-room scale, the contractor and the intended building features, while the contract value and final certification remain undisclosed. Progress on the structure, façade and services will provide the next measurable stages as the former office plot becomes Dakota’s new York hotel.
