Pigeon-infested Hilton will cost £14m to finish

The hotel on Fletton Quays is about 80% complete

An unfinished pigeon-infested Hilton hotel will cost an extra £14m to complete, according to its sales brochure.

Work on the 160-bedroom structure in Peterborough city centre stopped in March 2023 - the year the builders went into administration.

The city council, which borrowed £15m from the government to loan to the developers in 2017, has instructed the administrators to sell.

The brochure said the hotel plans to have a restaurant, meeting rooms, gym and rooftop bar. No guide price for the building has been listed.

It said while Hilton remained supportive of the project, "offers are invited on an unconditional basis for both existing and alternative use".

The scheme began under a Conservative city council administration. Its group leader previously said the project failed because of the Covid pandemic and costs of building materials rising "three times".

A bidder came forward as part of a soft-market testing exercise last autumn and the council-appointed administrators took steps to sell the hotel, but the deal fell through earlier this year.

Recent council papers said there was water ingress on the south-east corner of the building, near the sky bar, and a "significant" pigeon infestation.

Now, a sales brochure through CBRE stated: "A cost to complete report... in February 2024 estimates approximately £14.361m is required to finalise the outstanding works."

All bids for the hotel must be submitted by 16 January, the brochure said.