Newsbrief: New hotel to rise beside the Thames

A new 335-bed hotel is set to be built beside the Thames. Butler's Wharf Ltd has applied for planning permission from the London Docklands Development Corporation and bids from developers and tenants are to be invited in the summer.

The eight-storey hotel, with rooftop coffee rooms and public bar, will overlook the river between the Design Museum and Butler's Wharf. English Heritage and local pressure groups have approved the design, which, says architect Paul Zara, blends with the historic environment.