Engineers team up with US hotel operator

A mechanical engineering company has forged an alliance with a US-based hotel operator to build and run up to 20 hotels in the UK.

The engineering company, FHP International, has teamed up with Signature Hospitality Resources based in Denver, Colorado. Signature operates a number of hotels in the USA under different brand names, including the 760-bedroom Radisson Twin Towers Hotel in Orlando, Florida.

The partnership's first site, for a 220-bedroom, four-star standard property in the centre of Sheffield, is currently being negotiated. The hotel development is part of a wider regeneration scheme for the area, headed by contractor Taylor Woodrow.

It is understood that the UK hotels will not be operated under franchises of existing brands. Rather, FHP intends to develop a new hotel brand.

FHP declined to comment.