Work to convert a former town centre nightclub into a new ‘easyHotel’ should be complete by this September.

The £5m project will feature 94 bedrooms, as well as a coffee shop on the ground floor of the Grade II listed building, home of the former Groove nightclub in Northgate Street, Ipswich.

The new hotel is being built next door to the former historic Great White Horse Hotel, which is described in Charles Dickens’ The Pickwick Papers, and is now occupied by shops and a cafe.

Property and construction consultancy Ingleton Wood, which has offices throughout East Anglia and London, has been carrying out the upgrade in partnership with architects Axiom.

Planning permission was granted last summer and contractors started on site earlier this year.

Ingleton Wood has six offices and employs close to 200 staff.

Mike Miller, Head of Head of Civil and Structural Engineering at Ingleton Wood’s Cambridge office said: “We’re delighted to be involved with such an important development in Ipswich’s town centre.

“The building had been empty for some time, so it’s great that our team’s efforts are paying off and the new hotel is starting to take shape.

“We’ve been adapting the existing structure to suit the new use, while ensuring the changes are sympathetic to its Grade II listed status.”

The Ipswich easyHotel is one of four currently under construction in the UK, with others in Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester all in the pipeline. The chain, founded by Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou in 2005, already has eight hotels in and around London and others in Edinburgh and Glasgow. It also has franchised hotels overseas in Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Dubai.

The Ipswich easyHotel joins a growing number of budget hotels in the town centre - a Travelodge on Duke Street, A Premier Inn by the Waterfront, a Pentahotel on Ranelagh Road, a Novotel on Grey Friars Road and another Travelodge hotel being built off Ranelagh Road. There were once a number of landmark hotels in the heart of Ipswich town centre, including The Great White Horse Hotel, the Golden Lion and the Crown and Anchor, all of which no longer operate as hotels.