London hotel expansion

Two prominent London hotels are planning to add nearly 100 more bedrooms between them after gaining approval from Westminster City Council to extend their properties and add more floors.

The Berkeley Hotel has been given the go-ahead to extend its Wilton Place premises with a seven-floor addition at the rear that will boost the number of bedrooms from 168 to 215.

But a hotel spokeswoman said there were no firm dates to start work.

The Howard hotel in Temple Place, now operated by Swissotel, plans to extend its seventh floor and add two new floors above as part of a £6 million refurbishment by the group after it took on a 20-year management agreement last May.

This will boost the number of bedrooms by 46 to 187, and includes a first floor extension that was approved by Westminster Council last December