This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on October 21, 2015.

KUALA LUMPUR: Battersea Power Station Development Co (BPSDC) has appointed lifestyle hotel operator art’otel to manage its hotel in Battersea Power Station, London, which is slated to open in 2019. 

In a statement yesterday, BPSDC said it had signed a management agreement with PPHE Hotel Group, the owner of the art’otel brand, for the proposed hotel.

Dubbed “art’otel London Battersea Power Station”, it will be an integral part of Phase 3, which is set within the £8 billion (RM52.67 billion) Battersea Power Station development project. When completed, Battersea Power Station is expected to deliver over 17,000 direct and indirect jobs at the development.

BPSDC said the hotel’s design style will draw inspiration from the award-winning art’otel amsterdam, which fuses innovative design with urban, discussion-provoking art curated and created by Atelier van Lieshout, opened in 2013.

“The 160 plus-bedroom luxury lifestyle hotel will offer guests amenities with a number of skyline floors boasting panoramic views leading up to the roof garden designed by the New York High Line team, James Corner Field Operations,” said BPSDC.

It also features an outdoor rooftop pool and bar overlooking the iconic chimneys.

The art’otel London Battersea Power Station is expected to be the first art’otel to be opened in London.

“We are excited to be announcing this important transaction and for it to be with such an innovative hotel company,” said BPSDC chief executive officer Rob Tincknell in the statement.

“The selection process to find the right brand and operator was a very competitive and thorough one, involving the leading hotel brands from around the world.

“art’otel was a standout winner, a brand unlike anything we have seen in London to date, and it is particularly fitting for it to have art at the heart of the brand and the hotel itself. I am confident that together with art’otel, we will deliver a beyond-expectations hotel,” he added.

In addition to art’otel, Phase 3 will comprise over 1,300 residential homes, a new pedestrian high street lined with shops and restaurants known as The Electric Boulevard, a new public park and community hub known as The Prospect, and a new Battersea Power Station London Underground Station.

Homes within Phase 3 of Battersea Power Station are available with prices from £1.4 million for a two-bedroom unit.

The Battersea Power Station project is jointly owned by S P Setia Bhd (40%), Sime Darby Bhd (40%) and the Employees Provident Fund (20%).