Plans have been submitted to convert a 1970s office block in Kingston into a new 160-bedroom Premier Inn hotel.
A change of use application has been received by Kingston Council from The BA Partnership and Premier Inn, requesting Combined House, in Wheatfield Way, is changed from office use to hotel.
In its submission, the applicant claims Combined House "does not have a future as an office building" and that to refurbish the premises to make it attractive to a modern business would cost between £8m and £11m.
Instead it has submitted plans to convert the block, which sits above an NCP multi-storey car park, into a 160-room Premier Inn with bar and restaurant.
The application reads: "It is our considered view that Combined House does not meet the requirements of the modern occupier.
"Not only does it not provide the right image, it also fails to match the quality criteria that companies now expect.
"To bring the property up to even a basic standard, substantial costs would have to be incurred in both the redesign and refurbishment of the premises... The cost of the required work, coupled
with a traditionally weak Kingston office market make any exercise financially unviable.
"We are therefore of the opinion that Combined House does not have a future as an office building and would advocate a change of use."
Combined House was opened in 1974 and occupied by Combined Insurance.
The company was taken over by ACE Insurance in 2012 and will vacate the premises in January 2014.
It was in similar circumstances that the adjoining International House was converted into a Travelodge in 2008.
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