The island’s first budget hotel has gone up with remarkable speed, reports Adrian Darbyshire.

Construction of the 85-bedroom Premier Inn began in February and contractors Dandara are due to complete work by the end of April ready for the hotel to open perhaps in time for the TT.

Students interested in a career in construction were last week given guided tours of the site to showcase some of the opportunities available in the building industry.

And project manager Len Arnold, who led the site tours for the year 10 and 11 students (aged 14 to 16) - explained some of the innovative building techniques that have allowed his team to meet the project’s tight time schedule.

The hotel on Market Street in Douglas boasts 85 bedrooms over five floors and a ground floor restaurant and bar.

Dandara had the contract to design as well as built the project, its own architects and engineers working to strict specifications and standards required by Premier Inn.

Leading students from Queen Elizabeth II High School into the hotel’s ground floor reception area, on the first of seven tours organised as part of the Employability and Skills event at the Villa Marina, Mr Arnold said: ’This will be the restaurant to your right - although it doesn’t look much like a restaurant at the moment!

’There are two lifts which serve the rooms upstairs. The lift on the left is just for the public while the other lift has doors to the front and back and can be used by the cleaners with the linen.’

He pointed out the steel frame which was manufactured off-site and arrived here on nine trailers in sections and then bolted together. ’This supports literally thousands and thousands of tonnes of masonry and concrete in the floors above,’ he said.

Everything that comes out of the ground during excavation for the foundations is recycled and used in other buildings schemes. ’It’s all to do with the environment and trying to reduce the carbon footprint,’ Mr Arnold explained.

Concrete is poured on top of the steel framework to create the floor slab and then the blockwork begins to create the walls. The blocks are all manufactured locally by Corletts in Peel.

But it’s up on the first floor that the real innovation begins. In a first for the island, the bathrooms for 83 of the hotel’s bedrooms come ready-made and lifted into place as pods as the building proceeds.

Dandara had to have the first of the bedrooms ready for inspection by Premier Inn by week 34 of the contract. That includes electrics, air conditioning, painting and carpets. The hotel chain fits the beds, TV and soft furnishings.

Premier Inn’s new strategy is for hub hotels, with guests charged just £19 a night for compact pod-style rooms.

The new Douglas hotel offers rather more luxurious accommodation in comparison to that. Other bedrooms are in a lesser state of completion as you head up to the higher floors. But the students were only taken up to the second floor before returning to the reception.

Asked if there had been any challenges with the project, Mr Arnold explained that the retaining wall holding up the South Douglas Old Friends’ Association behind had to be replaced.

There were also issues with access to the restricted site, with a road closure having to be put in place on Market Street. ’We had to work with the neighbours. We’ve had a good working relationship with them and not had a single complaint,’ the project manager said.

Mr Arnold told the QEII students on the first tour: ’I wasn’t the brightest card in the pack at school. But I stuck at it. My advice is work hard and you will have a rewarding career in the construction industry.’

He explained there was a whole variety of career options available from office-based jobs, to design, general trades and specialist roles like lift installation.

He told the Examiner that the construction industry had problems in attracting young people as a career.

’It’s not often that students with an interest have the chance to see a working site in operation, particularly on a project of this kind,’ he explained.