IHG has signed a 90-room Hotel Indigo for Kingston Bridge House in Hampton Wick, due to open in 2027 beside 22 new flats. The planning decision is not yet published.

The empty former student block at Kingston Bridge House in Hampton Wick is to become a Hotel Indigo. IHG Hotels & Resorts announced the deal on Monday 26 October. The 90-room hotel is due to open in 2027.

IHG has named it Hotel Indigo London Kingston. The building is not in Kingston, though. It stands on the corner of Church Grove and Hampton Court Road, on the Richmond borough side of the river, a short walk across Kingston Bridge from Kingston town centre.

What IHG has announced

IHG’s announcement gives these details:

  • 90 rooms, scheduled to open in 2027
  • 22 homes in the same building, in a mixed-use scheme
  • the owner is Westcombe Group, through its Acre Hotels Collection, which is new to IHG
  • it would be the seventh Hotel Indigo in Greater London

Kamal Pankhania, Westcombe’s chief executive, said the company was turning “a formerly vacant building into new homes, affordable housing and a five-star luxury hotel”. The release does not say whether the hotel will have a public restaurant or bar.

Where the planning stands

The conversion is already well advanced. Westcombe Developments applied in February for retrospective permission for the 22 flats and the 90-bed hotel, under reference PA26/0355. The officer’s report said the flats were “substantially complete as of May 2026”. It also noted an open enforcement case, EN26/0205.

The Planning Committee considered the application on Wednesday 14 October. Officers recommended approval, delegated to the Director of Place Planning once a legal agreement is signed. We set out the full report before the meeting.

The council has not yet published the committee’s decision. The meeting page carried no minutes on Wednesday 28 October, and the council’s online planning register could not be read. We will add the outcome when it appears.

The scheme put to the committee included:

  • a hotel taking 3,716 square metres, about two thirds of the floorspace
  • 22 flats, 4 of them shared ownership
  • 23 car parking spaces and a car club bay, with residents barred from parking permits
  • a wider pavement at the corner of Church Grove and Hampton Court Road
  • a carbon offset payment of £443,592, £15,044.79 for the Kings Field playground and £20,000 towards local employment

Four affordable homes out of 22 is 18%, against the council’s 35% target. Officers accepted viability evidence that more could not be delivered.

The building’s history

Kingston Bridge House was Kingston University student accommodation, with 216 bedrooms in 39 flats. It was vacated in 2020. Permission for 70 flats was granted in April 2024 but never used, according to the officer’s report.

What it means for you

  • A hotel in Hampton Wick. IHG is selling the site on its riverside position and its closeness to Hampton Court Palace, Kew Gardens and Richmond Park. It says Waterloo is about 20 minutes away by train.
  • Traffic and parking. Three neighbours objected during consultation. They raised parking pressure in Church Grove and nearby streets, and hotel traffic, including during the Hampton Court Flower Show. Hotel guests are not covered by the residents’ permit bar, so how the hotel manages arrivals will matter on Church Grove.
  • Jobs. The £20,000 employment contribution in the legal agreement is meant to help local people into work on the scheme. No hotel job numbers have been given.

The borough’s housing targets and big schemes are on our Richmond planning page.