Savills distance themselves from Bournemouth Council's BIC hotel scheme

The company had been advising the council in broad terms in evaluating tender information and market conditions.

But directors at Savills have now become alarmed their position might have been misrepresented by senior councillors and officers to bolster the business case for the publicly funded and high risk project.

Hotel industry experts claim the council’s numbers don’t add up.

Savills also say they are concerned about the company’s image and reputation being associated with the now hugely controversial and ‘highly politicised’ scheme.

In an email sent on May 16 to Cllr Don McQueen, Global Head of Hotels for Savills, George Nicholas said: “Savills would like to clarify that Bournemouth Borough Council may not place reliance on the Savills report, which appears contrary to statements made by the council in publicly available documents.”

Mr McQueen, who has voiced concerns about the project, was axed from his role as chairman of the council’s overview and scrutiny committee by the leadership last month.

Mr Nicholas said in his email that Bournemouth East MP, Conor Burns had also requested information from him.

In an even stronger letter to the council’s head of environment and economy, Bill Cotton, Savills’ Director of Licensed Leisure, Kevin Marsh says the hotel has become ‘highly politicised.’

Read the letter in full here

He writes there has been “recent speculation...that Savills have endorsed the financial viability of the hotel development.”

He points out this was not the company’s brief from the council and that the company did not and does not endorse the council’s figures.

“We are concerned to protect image and reputation of Savills, in particular that our name is not used to infer support or credibility one way or another for decisions that were outside of the scope of our instructions.

“It is quite clear.... that Savills instructions only extended to a review of the trading projections of the bidders and not to the wider financial viability of developing the hotel.”

Mr Marsh says: “Savills is seeking your reassurance that officers of the council and politicians associated with the borough will not mis-represent the extent of Savills involvement in the project or the findings of our research or due diligence.”

Last month the Echo published an investigation into the scheme which cast serious doubt on whether it stacked up financially.

A week later hoteliers served warning they would seek a judicial review.

On Wednesday the council was forced into putting the project back out to tender. The Savills’ correspondence shows the project has now became an embarrassment for some of those involved.

MP Conor Burns told the Echo: “I was approached by a number of successful hotel operators in my constituency expressing reservations about the scheme and felt it was appropriate to see if the project was on a sound footing and it was in that context that I approached Savills.”