International hotel operator Wyndham is set to bring five-star luxury to Angus as the centrepiece of a £60 million golf and leisure development.
Developers Map Property and Leisure announed on Thursday that the global chain had signed up to create its first Scottish hotel to be named Wyndham Grand The Angus on land to the north and east of the village of Wellbank.
A new Darren Clarke-designed championship golf course and 160 houses are also to be created there.
Landowner Mike Forbes, owner of the Forbes of Kingennie resort, has entered into an agreement with Map and construction work is expected to begin next spring.
The construction phase of the project, which will include building the new hotel and houses, is scheduled to take about two years and support up to 300 jobs, while the new hotel, leisure and spa facilities will create about 200 long-term posts.
Permissions for the project were granted by Angus Council in November 2010, despite opposition from some members of the local community, who feared the area was being over-developed.
Map managing director Donald Paterson claimed the new resort would be world-class and the course would be built to a standard capable of hosting tournament golf.
”What we are looking to do is not just build a championship golf course and hotel we are looking to build a five-star resort,” Mr Paterson said. ”By 2013 we will have started the build and we will have built out to completion by the end of 2015.
”The impact will be a 50% increase in tourism and it will being in an estimated £30 million per annum into the local economy. This is going to create huge opportunities for local employment in construction and in permanent positions in the hotel trade and ancillary employment.”
Mr Forbes, who will become a partner in the new development following the transfer of the land to Map, said the homes element of the project was essential in ensuring the project was financially viable.
”It is critical for funding without that it couldn’t happen,” he said.
He said the new course would help to make Angus a golfing tourism destination in its own right, rather than simply an add-on to St Andrews.
”We are festooned with municipal golf courses, but we have no world-class golf courses, other than at Carnoustie,” Mr Forbes said. ”We want people to stay in Angus and spend money in Angus rather than stay in St Andrews and day trip.”
Joel Goldman, Wyndham Hotel Group’s vice-president of development for the UK and western Europe, said his company were delighted to be involved in such a prestigious development.
The resort will be operated by Prestige Hotel Management, who will be tasked to deliver the standards required by the Wyndham Grand brand.
Mr Goldman said: ”Expanding our namesake brand within Europe, (the) Middle East and Africa is an integral part of Wyndham Hotel Group’s growth strategy and this newest property will serve as an outstanding addition to the collection.
”Scotland is a world-renowned golfing destination and this new resort will sit at the epicentre of Scottish golf, just a few miles from Carnoustie and near St Andrews and Gleneagles.”’Door always open’The development has not been without its detractors, with some Wellbank residents vocal in their concerns about the scheme.
Landowner Mike Forbes said he understood such a sizeable project would inevitably throw up issues, but said public consultation had shown a strong groundswell of support for the development too.
”We engaged in a very full public consultation,” Mr Forbes said. ”I personally got involved in one-to-one meetings with people who had concerns and were prepared to meet with me.
”No matter what size the project is and this is a big project it will cause issues as people struggle with change. I have continually left my door open and I reiterate that today my door is open to anyone with concerns.”
He added: ”I have been here for 45 years myself and I am not likely to make a great mistake. My wife is there with the big stick if I get it wrong.”
Mr Forbes who has been central to planning for the development despite fighting cancer paid tribute to the team assembled by Map and said he could not have personally driven forward the project in the same manner.
He said he viewed his leukaemia as a message that he had to hand over the reins of the project.Project aims to create an architectural landmarkThe new five-star Wyndham Grand has been designed to be a new architectural landmark for Angus, with strong nods to the region’s golfing greats.
The 187-bedroom hotel will be built in a fan shape across three wings, one block pointing towards the Championship Course at Carnoustie, the central spike directed towards St Andrews and the Old Course and the third pointing towards Dundee and the bridges.
Architect Derek Reid said the new hotel had been designed to ensure all rooms had a panoramic south-facing view of the landscape from Shank of Omachie.
The hotel will feature full leisure facilities, a restaurant headed by a ”signature chef”, private dining and bar areas and a 350-capacity banqueting suite.
The new course, designed by last year’s Open champion Darren Clarke and Graeme Webster of golf course architects TeamNiblick, will incorporate two remodelled holes from the current nine-hole Forbes of Kingennie course, with two additions to its layout.
Mr Webster said the course, which will feature a man-made watercourse running through its middle, would provide a worthy challenge to both club and professional golfers alike.
The course will have a mixture of tees which will allow it to play at a length of up to 7,500 yards, although the regular track will be a 6,937-yard par 72.