Cliffemount Hotel, Runswick Bay, set to be demolished

Contractors have arrived on site this morning (August 19) to set up and prepare for an eight-week-long demolition process in Runswick Bay at the Cliffemount Hotel.

Official communications confirm that the demolition of the building itself is expected to commence during the second week of September.

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The entire process, which is being led by Stainforth Construction, has been given an expected completion date of October 11.

Cliffemount Hotel was once a popular destination for tourists to stay when visiting the area.

In 2022 the hotel closed and was sold to the Fojt family, who have strong links to Runswick Bay.

In 2023, it was announced that the family intended to demolish the old hotel and rebuild Cliffemount as a new 20 sea-view room hotel, pub and restaurant.

Karen Fojt, left, and her daughter, Melissa Tomlinson enjoying a barbecue on the beach at Runswick (Image: Supplied)

Focusing on sustainability, the family intends to follow strict design and building regulations set by The Passivhaus Trust whilst rebuilding the hotel.

If successful, the new Cliffemount would be the first hotel in the UK to achieve Passivhaus accreditation.

For this accreditation to be achievable, the existing building must be completely stripped away thus requiring the scale of demolition that has been revealed.

Melissa Tomlinson, managing director, said: “It’s a huge milestone for us to be able to announce that demolition is commencing. It’s taken a lot of time and effort from all involved parties to make it happen because it’s such a huge process.

“The scale of the project as a whole meant it was always going to take a while for work to begin, but it has taken a little longer than expected. This is largely because we’ve never been willing to compromise on quality. We’ve always said we would consider the community in everything we do. We’ve stayed true to that to date and plan on continuing to do so.

“We want to thank everyone for their continued support and their patience whilst we made the necessary arrangements. We’ve received such lovely comments and well wishes from local residents, and the support really means a lot to us, especially considering there will inevitably be a little disruption throughout our project.”

Melissa Tomlinson, and her son, Alfie, looking around the Cliffemount Hotel when it was first purchased (Image: Supplied)

A letter of intent has been issued to local residents who may be affected by the work being carried out in the coming weeks.

Paul Thackray, site manager at Stainforth Construction said in the letter: “We aim to conduct the works with the minimum amount of disruption to the local community and environment. 

“Unfortunately, there will inevitably be some element of disruption, mainly due to the delivery of construction machinery. Anyone with any questions or concerns can reach out to our team directly and we will be happy to comment.”

Although the demolition is expected to be completed by mid-October, no date has been announced for work to begin on building the new Cliffemount.

Cliffemount Hotel as it currently looks (Image: Dan Metcalfe)