Maldron Hotels opens first UK property at Rush’s Cardiff scheme

Maldron is one of Ireland’s largest hotel groups. It opened the new 12-storey superior three-star Maldron Hotel on the site of the former Central Hotel by the central railway station on May 16.

McAleer & Rushe was the main contractor on the 14-month project. The £25m hotel designed by Belfast-based White Ink Architects was funded by the Julian Hodge Bank of Cardiff.

Rush Developments is a South Wales developer owned by Kim Tonks and Ian Jones which has specialised in commercial development in the region for 30 years. Rush director Kim Tonks said: “We have been very pleased with the delivery of such a high quality hotel. McAleer & Rushe was a great company to work with and delivered the scheme to a very tight schedule on time and on budget. We are currently in discussions with a number of parties about other opportunities and are always interested in strong new development opportunities.”

McAleer & Rushe construction director Martin Magee said: “This was a great project for McAleer & Rushe to be involved in and helps cement our premier league reputation for hotel construction and development. We are pleased to have met the challenging demands made of us to bring forward the completion of the hotel so that it could provide accommodation for those travelling to Cardiff for the Heineken Cup on Saturday. I would like to thank Rush Developments and Maldron Hotels, firstly for the opportunity and then for the very professional manner with which they conducted the contact which facilitated our ability to beat the programme and maintain the budget.”

Maldron, which has longer-term plans for more hotels in cities across the UK, was founded in 2007 by former Jurys Doyle chief executive Pat McCann.

McCann, who brought the Jurys Hotel to the Welsh capital in 1994 said: “I’m confident that the Maldron Hotel Cardiff will provide a significant boost to the Cardiff economy in terms of tourism and job creation. Strong comparisons can be drawn between Cardiff and Dublin, as it has a thriving leisure market at weekends and a strong corporate market during the week. For me the city offers huge potential so it made sense for our first UK development to be there.”