Construction Management is the highest circulation construction-based publication serving the UK built environment.
News
Demolition to pave the way for UK’s first Passivhaus hotel
Cristina Lago Deputy Editor
The Cliffemount Hotel is located in Whitby, a seaside town in Yorkshire near the River Esk (Image: Howard Fojt)
Demolition of a once-popular hotel in North Yorkshire has started under plans to rebuild it as an ultra-low energy facility.
Stainforth Construction arrived at the Cliffemount Hotel in Runswick Bay this morning (19 August) to set up and prepare for an eight-week-long demolition process.
Demolition of the building itself is expected to start in the second week of September.
This is not a paywall. Registration allows us to enhance your experience across Construction Management and ensure we deliver you quality editorial content.
Registering also means you can manage your own CPDs, comments, newsletter sign-ups and privacy settings.
The new 1,795 sq m Cliffemount Hotel will be built following a strict energy-efficient design to achieve the Passivhaus international energy performance standard.
In 2022 the hotel closed and was sold to the Fojt family from Yorkshire, who have strong links to Runswick Bay (Image: Dan Metcalfe)
The hotel has been designed by architecture firm Bowman Riley. Chartered building surveyor Silverstone Building Consultancy will oversee its construction.
Cliffemount’s managing director, Melissa Tomlinson, said: “It’s a huge milestone for us to be able to announce that demolition is commencing. It’s taken a lot of time and effort from all involved parties to make it happen because it’s such a huge process.
“The scale of the project as a whole meant it was always going to take a while for work to begin, but it has taken a little longer than expected. This is largely because we’ve never been willing to compromise on quality. We’ve always said we would consider the community in everything we do. We’ve stayed true to that to date and plan on continuing to do so.
Although the demolition is expected to be completed by mid-October, no date has been announced for work to begin on building the new Cliffemount.
The January/February 2026 issue of Construction Management magazine is now available to read in digital format.
Powered Access
CM, in partnership with IPAF, has launched a new survey to explore the industry’s views and experiences with powered access machines on construction projects.
This is not a first step towards a paywall. We need readers to register with us to help sustain creation of quality editorial content on Construction Management. Registering also means you can manage your own CPDs, comments, newsletter sign-ups and privacy settings. Thank you.
