Brunswick Centre residents who are opposing proposals to turn an underground car park into a hotel with 210 bedrooms

AN innovative engineering project at the landmark Grade II-listed Brunswick Centre to convert a semi-redundant underground car park into a hotel has pitched tenants against landlords.

Councillors on the Town Hall’s planning committee are set to run the rule over a project tonight (Thursday) which would see part of the basement of the 1960s homes and shops complex near Russell Square converted into 210 bedrooms.

The plans, drawn up by the centre’s owners, Lazari, would see a concrete slab cut away from supporting pillars and lowered to create higher ceilings.

But residents of the Modernist masterpiece say the project should be rejected, sharing their concerns about structural fears, noise and the management of a budget hotel beneath 400 homes.

Resident Maisie Rowe said the centre’s mix of households made the project unwanted.

“Nearly a quarter of the houses are classed as sheltered housing,” she said. “Many tenants have a range of physical and mental health needs. This is a noisy and polluted place, with exceptionally poor acoustic insulation, sound from the busy shopping centre travelling long distances and an active night-time economy all around.

“It is going to be miserable to live on a building site for two years and people who predominantly stay indoors all day will have least resilience against the inevitable increase in noise pollution.”

The objectors said they are worried that a new hotel will attract late-night and early morning travellers – with taxis arriving at anti-social hours.

Ms Rowe added: “Those of us that live next to pavements or above the proposed entrance envision continual disturbance from Ubers at all hours. The grating sound of wheeled suitcases on narrow pavements will be incessant. Our pubs are obliged to close outside areas after 9pm but this proposal will see parties of excited travellers gathering at all hours.”

Structural engineer Stuart Tappin lives at the centre and says he is not convinced.

“This is a major bit of work,” he said. “It is an interesting solution but it isn’t reversible and for a listed building, that is an issue. We fear we may get movement causing structural problems. The information they have represented does not, I feel, address this issue.”

But Lazari’s development manager David Smith told the New Journal they had spoken at length with residents and they would mitigate concerns over noise. He said the two-year build included a six-month period at the start where the noisiest building work would take place, adding: “The structural work will be done and then it is the case of the hotel fitting out the interiors, which will be for the majority of the time.”

He said high-level sound insulation would be installed – to also help protect hotel guests from noise from flats and the Curzon Cinema.

“We are investigating different ways to cut through the concrete, for example high-pressure water jets, which are quieter,” Mr Smith added.

“Time limits and two-hour cycles will build in noise breaks,” he added, while acoustic muffling systems, including large mattress-like sound-squashing equipment, will be used. The plans mean a middle section of concrete would be cut away – and it is not a load-bearing structure, but instead covers part of the basement.

Mr Smith said as owners who have invested millions, they were determined not to cause any damage.

Mr Smith said: “We have not underestimated what we are doing. It would be a problem for us if we caused structural issues. We, of course, have no interest in damaging our own building.”