Zedwell has today confirmed plans to convert 39 Bell Lane in Spitalfields into a new flagship East London hotel, marking a significant step in the brand’s continued growth across prime, high-demand gateway locations and reinforcing its position as one of the UK’s fastest-scaling, tech-driven hospitality platforms.

Located on a prominent corner site at the junction of Bell Lane and Artillery Lane, within the historic Spitalfields district, the scheme will transform a vacant office building into a mixed-use destination, delivering 143 Zedwell cocoons alongside affordable workspace designed to support local businesses and creative industries.

The announcement comes just days after Zedwell unveiled its expansion into Oxford and York, underscoring the pace and ambition of the brand’s UK rollout as it continues to scale a high-performance platform across the country’s most supply-constrained urban markets.

Built as a modern, tech-enabled hospitality platform, Zedwell is built around its flagship cocoon concept – first introduced at the brand’s London flagship in the former Trocadero in the West End, a landmark transformation of a former indoor theme park. The cocoon model reimagines the fundamentals of the hotel experience through efficiency, simplicity and understated elegance, combining a fully digital guest journey with environments engineered to minimise distraction and maximise comfort.

This approach translates into a seamless, end-to-end guest experience – from intuitive self check-in to digital key access – supported by 24/7 AI-powered assistance. Across Zedwell’s accommodation formats, advanced soundproofing, purified air systems and carefully calibrated ambient lighting minimise external disruption, while unnecessary room clutter is removed and body-cushioning mattresses enhance comfort, creating calm, restorative spaces designed to help guests recharge before stepping back out into the energy of the city.

Spitalfields represents a particularly compelling opportunity, sitting at the intersection of the City, Shoreditch and East London’s cultural core, within walking distance of Liverpool Street Station – one of London’s busiest transport hubs – and surrounded by some of London’s most vibrant retail, dining and market venues, including Brick Lane and Old Spitalfields Market, which attracts around 200,000 visitors each week.

The scheme will deliver a comprehensive repositioning of the existing six-storey building, previously occupied as office space and now stripped back to shell condition, with a sensitively designed vertical extension, façade enhancements and active frontages to strengthen engagement with the surrounding streetscape, bringing the development to around 40,000 sq ft.

In addition to the hotel, the scheme will deliver over 7,500 sq ft of affordable workspace across the ground and first floors, supporting SMEs and local entrepreneurs, while the reuse of the existing structure will significantly reduce embodied carbon compared with new-build alternatives, supporting Zedwell’s innovative, resource-efficient approach to urban development.

Halima Aziz, Head of Hotels at Zedwell, commented: “Spitalfields sits at the crossroads of London’s financial, cultural and creative districts and attracts a diverse mix of international visitors, professionals and entrepreneurs, making it an exceptional location for Zedwell. With a current and committed pipeline of more than 9,000 rooms by 2028, we are continuing to build a scalable platform in the world’s most supply-constrained urban markets, and Spitalfields represents another important step in that journey.”

ENDS