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Planning permission granted for 110-bedroom hotel conversion on edge of £200m Becketwell regeneration site. The former Job Centre on Derby's Becket Street is swapping benefits advice for continental breakfasts. JSA Architects has secured planning approval to transform the 1970s Forester House into a 110-bedroom easyHotel—bringing international hospitality to the heart of Derby city centre.
The five-storey building sits on the corner of Newland and Becket Street, positioned at the edge of the city's ambitious Becketwell regeneration site —a location that's gone from neglected eyesore to prime development territory in the space of a few years.
All 110 guest rooms will feature double beds, intelligently-designed storage, and en-suite bathrooms—the kind of compact efficiency that budget hotels have perfected. But it's the ground and first floors where things get interesting. JSA developed proposals for a large Asian-fusion restaurant and banqueting suite, complete with show-cooking elements that turn meal preparation into theatre.
The design process required JSA to work closely with engineers, surveyors, and Derby City Council to explore whether the building could be extended upwards—potentially adding high-quality serviced apartments to the mix. That conversation involved careful assessment of the impact on the surrounding neighbourhood and how the scheme would integrate with the wider £200m Becketwell development, which includes 259 build-to-rent apartments, a new public square, and a 3,500-capacity performance venue.
The hotel is expected to create nine full-time and ten part-time jobs. Not groundbreaking numbers, but significant for a building that's been sitting largely empty while Derby's city centre reinvents itself around it.
The project demonstrates what can be done with Derby's stock of unloved seventies architecture—buildings that aren't pretty enough to protect but too solid to justify demolishing. Forester House gets a second life. Derby gets more hotel beds in a city centre crying out for reasons to stay overnight. The planning approval came through in March 2020, with construction progressing towards completion.
JSA's approach focused on minimal external changes to preserve the building's presence on the streetscape, while completely reimagining what happens inside. Sometimes the best regeneration isn't the flashiest—it's just bringing derelict space back into productive use without making a fuss about it.
