Rotherham hotel plan approved for historic foundry despite Historic England warning

A landmark decision for a landmark site

A Grade II-listed industrial giant in Rotherham is heading for a new life as a 138-room hotel after councillors backed a redevelopment that will remove large parts of the damaged structure. In a decision that split opinion, Rotherham Council approved plans by Stewart Developments Ltd to transform the historic Guest & Chrimes foundry, overruling a strong warning from Historic England that the demolition would cause a “very high level of harm” to the building’s significance.

The approval, granted in August 2025, clears the way for a hotel of around 51,000 square feet with a restaurant and bar, and a striking entrance positioned beneath the site’s distinctive water tower. The foundry sits next to Rotherham United’s AESSEAL New York Stadium, on the edge of the town centre — a location with heavy matchday footfall and a clear line of sight from key approaches into town.

The plan is bold. Two of the three remaining wings of the Victorian foundry will go, replaced by a new L-shaped block tied into the retained northern range, which will be refurbished to hold the bulk of the hotel’s facilities. The developer says the fire-damaged wings cannot be viably saved. Heritage advisers disagree. Councillors sided with the former, arguing that the benefits of bringing a long-derelict site back into use outweighed the harm to the listed structure.

That call ends years of drift. The foundry has stood empty since 1999, its condition worsening after a severe fire in 2018 forced the demolition of the front section. What survives still tells a story — the scale, the masonry, the water tower — but much of the fabric is fragile and costly to secure. Without a deep-pocketed plan, the council warned, the building would keep slipping, and the public would eventually foot the bill for urgent safety works.

The site is steeped in local identity. Guest & Chrimes was a powerhouse brass and ironworks during the 19th century, producing valves and fittings exported across the world. The “New York” name of the neighbouring football stadium nods to the works’ export links and the area’s industrial past. That history is why heritage groups have pushed to save as much original fabric as possible — and why this decision was always going to be contentious.

What the plan includes — and why it split opinion

Placed alongside a modern stadium and a changing town centre, the hotel is pitched as a catalyst for recovery, not just another building project. Planners and the developer say it will unlock a dead corner of the urban core, create jobs, and bring visitors within walking distance of shops, venues, and matches. Historic England says the cost is too high: ripping out most of what remains of a nationally protected industrial site in order to make the numbers work.

Here’s what’s in the approved scheme:

• Retention and refurbishment of the foundry’s largest northern range to house the main hotel facilities and rooms.
• Demolition of the other two surviving wings, deemed by the developer to be structurally compromised and unviable to retain.
• Construction of a new L-shaped building that ties into the retained range, delivering a total of 138 rooms plus a restaurant and bar.
• A main entrance formed beneath the water tower, using the tower as a focal point for the design and guest arrival.

Historic England’s position is clear: even after earlier losses, the foundry’s remaining buildings still tell a coherent story of Rotherham’s industrial rise. The agency argued that removing two wings strips out crucial context — how the works functioned and expanded — and reduces the building to fragments. It urged the council to demand a plan that kept more of the original layout and fabric, even if that meant a smaller or slower project.

Planners took a different view. In their report, they said the balance tipped toward action. The building is damaged and deteriorating, and money for a full-scale, fabric-first rescue simply is not on the table. They noted the public benefits: new jobs, visitor spend, a safer and brighter approach to the stadium, and a major statement that the town centre is rebuilding momentum. They also flagged a practical risk — if no private scheme came forward, the council might have to step in to stabilise the shell at significant cost.

The history helps explain the stakes. Foundry operations at the site ceased in 1990. The complex has been empty since 1999, and years of exposure took a toll even before the 2018 fire collapsed and compromised key sections. The front block went soon after, a painful loss for conservationists. What’s left today is a mix of solid but aging masonry and fire-scarred structure, with the water tower still anchoring the skyline.

The council’s decision points to a common planning dilemma: when does the promise of new activity justify cutting back a protected building? National planning policy expects “substantial harm” to a listed asset to be justified by considerable public benefits, and for applicants to demonstrate that less harmful alternatives are not viable. In this case, the committee accepted the developer’s case that retaining the damaged wings would sink the scheme — and that the public benefits from regeneration, jobs, and a lift in town centre confidence met the test.

The developer has trailed a package of mitigation measures. Expect detailed recording of the buildings before any demolition, salvage of materials and features for reuse within the new hotel, and some form of public interpretation — displays, signage, or a small heritage area — to explain the site’s story to visitors. Councils often also secure conditions on materials, detailing, and construction methods so that new elements read as high-quality and respectful, not pastiche.

None of that fully replaces what will be lost. Heritage voices in the town say more of the late Victorian industrial character could be saved with patience and different funding. Some wanted a phased approach centred on craft workspaces or a smaller boutique hotel stitched into the original plan form. Others, including local businesses near the stadium, argue that a larger hotel now is what the town needs — especially with matchdays, events, and growing demand for mid-scale rooms near public transport.

So what happens next? The project moves into conditions and construction. Before any heavy machinery arrives, there will be surveys, stabilisation, and a process of recording by heritage specialists. If all goes to schedule, enabling works will prepare the site for the new L-shaped block while contractors restore the northern range. The water tower entrance will be a visible early marker of progress.

There are still moving parts. Securing the right contractor and managing construction around the stadium’s calendar will take careful planning. The design team will need to show how the old and the new meet — in brickwork, openings, rooflines, and the way guests and the public experience the tower and retained fabric. For a scheme under this much scrutiny, those details matter.

This site is not just any brownfield plot. Guest & Chrimes is woven into Rotherham’s identity. That’s why the build will be watched closely. Expect calls to keep as much original ironwork, brick, and timber as possible, and to let people see and understand what survives. A strong interpretation plan can make a difference: a short heritage trail on site, displays in the lobby, even glimpses of old machinery bases or floor patterns beneath glass if they survive and can be made safe.

Economically, the hotel lands at a time when many regional towns are trying to reset their centres — fewer big-box shops, more leisure, culture, and living. A decent-sized hotel beside a modern stadium can help. It brings steady demand from away teams, conferences, gigs, and family visits. It also supports nearby restaurants and venues and gives the council another piece to market when it pitches for events and investment.

There’s a wider context, too. Across the North and Midlands, cities have turned old mills, depots, and civic buildings into hotels with mixed results. The success stories share a few traits: a clear design idea, a strong operator, and honest treatment of the original fabric. The failures cut corners or tried to pretend a new build was old. Rotherham’s scheme will sit on that spectrum. The choice to keep the northern range and celebrate the water tower sets a direction; the rest will come down to execution.

For conservationists, one question lingers: was every alternative explored? Could more of the surviving wings have been braced and re-skinned? Would heritage funding or a slower, staged strategy have helped? The developer says they ran the numbers and they did not stack up. The council accepted that. If critics want to challenge the decision, the standard route in England is a Judicial Review, which focuses on the lawfulness of the process, not the merits of the planning judgment. Any such claim has to be lodged quickly after a decision is issued.

From a town-making point of view, the scheme tries to square two truths. First, the foundry is a symbol and deserves respect. Second, the site has been stuck for decades and needs a push. The council chose momentum, with conditions to protect character where it can. If the build is done with care, visitors walking under the water tower and into the hotel will still read the site’s past while using it for something real, not just remembering what used to be there.

There are practical questions residents will want answered as designs firm up: how the hotel addresses the street, what the lighting looks like at night games, how the service yard is screened, and how guests will move to and from the town centre. Expect tweaks as the team discharges planning conditions. Expect also a community relations plan to keep neighbours, match-goers, and local businesses informed about timings and disruptions.

The council’s report highlighted a risk few like to talk about: doing nothing. The longer a damaged listed building sits, the more expensive and complex it becomes to save. Weather and vandalism do the rest. At some point, safety orders can force removals that nobody planned. That spiral has played out on plenty of sites across the country. Breaking it is messy and it rarely pleases everyone. But it is how stalled places start to move again.

If the hotel performs, it could become a hub on matchdays and a reliable base for the town’s growing calendar of events. If it stumbles, critics will say the heritage loss was for nothing. That’s the bet. The developer and the council are wagering that Rotherham is ready to support a bigger hospitality footprint and that this address — with its water tower and stadium neighbour — is the right place to plant it.

The story of Guest & Chrimes has always been about making and exporting. In a small way, the next chapter keeps that spirit: making a destination, exporting a different message about the town. The decision may sit uneasily with some, but after more than two decades of vacancy, it gives the site a path forward.

As construction ramps up, look for visible signs of care: rescued bricks reset with pride, old lintels over new doors, a lobby display that tells visitors why the water tower matters. If those show up alongside the new L-shaped block and a busy bar on match nights, the council’s calculation — that the public benefits outweigh the harm — will feel less like a line in a report and more like a lived reality on the ground. That is what this Rotherham hotel plan will be judged on.