Contractors on site to prepare for demolition of Cliffemount Hotel in Runswick Bay, near Whitby

Contractors arrived on site this morning to set up and prepare for an eight-week-long demolition process.

Official communications confirm that the demolition of the building itself is expected to commence during the second week of September.

The entire process, which is being led by Stainforth Construction, has been given an expected completion date of October 11.

In 2022, the hotel – once a popular destination - closed and was sold to the Fojt family, who have strong links to Runswick Bay.

It was announced the following year that the family intended to demolish the old hotel and rebuild Cliffemount as a new 20 sea-view room hotel, pub and restaurant.

The family intends to follow strict design and building regulations set by The Passivhaus Trust while rebuilding the hotel.

If successful, the new Cliffemount would be the first hotel in the UK to achieve Passivhaus accreditation.

For this accreditation to be achievable, the existing building must be completely stripped away thus requiring the scale of demolition that has been revealed.

Melissa Tomlinson, managing director said: “It’s a huge milestone for us to be able to announce that demolition is commencing.

"It’s taken a lot of time and effort from all involved parties to make it happen because it’s such a huge process.

“The scale of the project as a whole meant it was always going to take a while for work to begin, but it has taken a little longer than expected.

"This is largely because we’ve never been willing to compromise on quality.

“We want to thank everyone for their continued support and their patience whilst we made the necessary arrangements.

"We’ve received such lovely comments and well wishes from residents, and the support really means a lot to us.”

A letter of intent has been issued to residents who may be affected by the work being carried out in the coming weeks.

Paul Thackray, site manager at Stainforth Construction said in the letter: “Anyone with any questions or concerns can reach out to our team directly and we will be happy to comment.”

No date has been announced for work to begin on building the new Cliffemount.