Whitbread property ups its heartbeat as it takes more than a million steps for Great Ormond Street Children’s Charity
The team growing Premier Inn and hub by Premier Inn in the UK and Ireland have put their best feet forward for Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity (GOSH Charity) successfully raising over £35,000.
Whitbread’s property team alongside representatives from its consultant and contractor base collectively covered 875km of ground – the same distance as driving from London to Aberdeen via the A1(M) – on Thursday 9th February.
Following a 25km route around central London, the walkers strolled past 22 trading and pipeline Premier Inn and hub by Premier Inn hotels in Camden, Westminster, Lambeth, Southwark, the City of London, and Islington – parts of the capital where the business has been investing heavily and is continuing to expand within.
It included passing the first large-scale Premier Inn hotel in Central London – the 316-bedroom Premier Inn at London County Hall – as well as the next generation of Premier Inn and hub by Premier Inn hotels in the capital at 5 Strand and Fenchurch Street which are currently in planning.
Alex Flach, Development Director – UK and Ireland for Whitbread, who organised the charity walk said:
“Whitbread has a long-stranding and very successful partnership with GOSH Charity, raising more than £23 million for the charity to date through the generosity of our guests, teams, colleagues at our support centre and Whitbread’s suppliers. Adding more than £35,000 to the running total is a wonderful feeling and I am very grateful to everyone who donated personally and through their organisations to help us reach the figure, and to ultimately support seriously ill children across the UK and their families too.”
The Central London event was the second walking challenge organised by Whitbread’s property team to raise funds for GOSH Charity. The team, alongside its panel consultants and contractors, successfully raised more than £60k by completing the Three Peaks Challenge in June 2019.
Liz Tait, Director of Fundraising for GOSH Charity added:
“Congratulations to every member of the Whitbread property team and their networks who took to the pavements to contribute to this outstanding challenge, raising a fantastic £35,000 to support seriously ill children at Great Ormond Street Hospital. We’re immensely proud of our longstanding partnership with Whitbread and Premier Inn and the energy and commitment of team members across the business when it comes to supporting GOSH Charity is completely inspiring, as fundraising challenges like this one make clear. The money raised will contribute to our efforts to build a world leading Children’s Cancer Centre at the hospital, and I’d like to say a huge well done and thank you from everyone at GOSH Charity.”
The Whitbread and GOSH Charity Partnership launched in 2012 with an initial ambition to raise £7.5 million for a much-needed Premier Inn Clinical Building. The partnership has subsequently been renewed three times and was honoured by The Better Society Awards in May 2023 for the success of the decade long partnership.
