Approval for ambitious plan to turn iconic Banbury building into hotel

Sapa Profiles building, Banbury as it is today

The proposed extension of the old SAPA Profiles building on Southam Road and conversion into a hotel with 80 bedrooms with a spa, swimming pool and a restaurant was approved by Cherwell District Council’s planning committee.

Banbury councillor Surinder Dhesi said it would be a great investment in the area while deputy council leader George Reynolds believed it would be good to see the unmissable building put to good use.

Committee chairman Cllr David Hughes said: “This is a really positive thing, I personally still miss the old Alcan works but I think this is a good use of the building.”

A photomontage of the proposed redevelopment of the Alcan/SAPA office building on Banbury's Southan Rd NNL-180515-123344001

The site of the old Northern Aluminium Company, later Alcan, has been partly used by Amazon and The Entertainer but the former SAPA building has been empty since 2008, slowly deteriorating.

The hotel would keep much of the Grade II listed building’s 1930s art-deco style as well as extending the office building by two storeys and build new structures for the spa, pool and restaurant.

Car parking for about 70 plus cars, including four disabled parking spaces and a coach pick-up and drop-off point, is also featured in the redevelopment of the land.

Cllr Hughes said it would be ‘beautiful’ to see the building lit up similarly to the Hoover building in London and hoped the developers, Honeydew Developments Ltd, would work with the council on the lighting.