A 122-room hotel next to Connexin Live
Wykeland Group announced on LinkedIn that Hull City Council had granted detailed planning permission for its revised Moxy hotel scheme, a Marriott International brand. The investment amounts to nearly €29m (£25m).
The hotel will rise on Waterhouse Lane, directly next to the Connexin Live arena. The building will have seven storeys and 122 rooms. According to Wykeland, it will be the first hotel built in Hull for more than a decade.
The construction timetable and opening date have not yet been disclosed.
Hotel supply at capacity on event nights
The project is underpinned by an independent market study cited by the developer. According to the study, Hull’s city-centre hotel capacity is fully booked 100 nights a year, forcing some visitors to stay outside the city.
Wykeland presents the hotel as part of the city’s economic infrastructure. It is designed to support the business, tourism and leisure economy, as well as the growth of Connexin Live, whose audiences the hotel will capture directly.
THT analysis – The scheme has been scaled back from the previous consent. In 2019, the council approved a nine-storey, 150-bed hotel on the site. The revised plans, reduced to seven storeys and 122 rooms, were submitted to meet the specific requirements of the Moxy brand.
Ownership and operation kept separate
Wykeland will retain ownership of the asset. The hotel will be operated by Legacy Hotel Management Services, which manages a portfolio of more than 25 hotels in the UK. The structure brings together a local property developer, an international brand and a specialist third-party operator.
The building has been designed by DLA Architecture. The scheme includes active ground-floor spaces opening onto a redeveloped public realm.
The culmination of a long-running urban regeneration
The project completes the regeneration of this city-centre site, already under way by Wykeland. The developer carried out a restoration programme of approximately €2.3m on the Grade II-listed Castle Buildings and the former Earl de Grey pub, both saved from dereliction. More than ten years ago, it also assembled the land that enabled Connexin Live to be built.
When the revised plans were submitted, Jonathan Stubbs, Wykeland’s development director, said the company was proud of its restoration work on the Castle Buildings and the Earl de Grey, adding that a Moxy hotel would complete this prime site while making a striking addition to Hull’s skyline.
Moxy strengthens its UK presence
Moxy is present in more than 130 cities across more than 25 countries. In the UK, the brand already operates in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Edinburgh and Glasgow. In 2025 it passed the milestone of 100 properties in EMEA with the opening of Moxy Belfast City. Each hotel is designed to reflect the character of its host city.
Molly Turpie, Senior Manager International Hotel Development at Marriott International, explained the choice when the plans were submitted, describing Hull as a city with a strong cultural identity and growing tourism appeal, making it an ideal location for Moxy’s playful, design-led approach.
The Hull scheme illustrates the brand’s strategy of expanding into secondary cities and new European markets, as with the opening of Moxy Budapest Downtown.
At a glance by The Hospitality Tribune
Moxy Hull secures detailed planning consent
Wykeland Group’s £25m (approx. €29m) Moxy project granted detailed planning permission in Hull
Seven-storey, 122-room hotel on Waterhouse Lane, next to Connexin Live arena
First hotel built in Hull for over a decade; city centre capacity sells out 100 nights a year
Owned by Wykeland, operated by Legacy Hotel Management Services under Marriott’s Moxy brand
Completes the regeneration of a site including the restored Grade II-listed Castle Buildings
