National Park Resort Planned in the UK

NORTH DERBYSHIRE, England—As part of the £1.1 billion ($1.6B) in worldwide trade deals announced by the UK Prime Minister David Cameron this week, a new world-class resort on the outskirts of Chesterfield in the North Derbyshire region will be created through a $600 million tourism development partnership between a UK development group and the Grand Heritage Hotel Group of Colorado.

The development, to be named Peaks Unlimited, will be located on a 300-acre site adjacent to Peaks District National Park and will include 600 hotel rooms and 250 woodland lodges.

Grand Heritage was introduced to the project through the Colorado Tourism Office and Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper's Office of Economic Development and International Trade. The new resort is expected to create 1,300 jobs in the area near the UK national park. Grand Heritage is the owner of the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park.

“I am very excited for Grand Heritage to return to investing in United Kingdom hospitality projects and this US/UK joint venture may well be the start of several further developments,” said John Cullen, president of Grand Heritage. “We are thrilled to have the opportunity to export Colorado's lifestyle of health, wellness, and love of outdoor recreation to the world through our involvement and investment in this project.”

Peaks Unlimited will offer year-round leisure, health, sports and educational opportunities, taking advantage of the nearby 555-square miles of national park.

“We are able to take the model we're developing at our Wellness Center at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park and scale it up for the European audience,” said Cullen.

Peaks Unlimited will include a variety of medical programs including athletic training, sports injury and rehabilitation including a proposed orthopedic surgical center. Also being discussed are a variety of onsite extreme recreational activities including mountain biking, rock climbing, canyoneering, a water park and a potential 90ft-deep indoor scuba diving tank. The site will also be designed with a 5,000-seat event venue intended for concerts and extreme sports competitions which can be broadcast internationally.

In 1951, the Peaks District was the first area to be designated a national park by the UK (which now has 15 areas); it is now the second-most visited national park in the world after Mt Fuji. The Peaks consists of three main "character areas" (as described by the Park's website). The White Peak area features limestone features and flat plateaus, with steep-sided valleys and broadleaved woodland areas, cut through with fast-flowing seasonal rivers and streams. The Dark Peak area is a dramatic gritstone landscape with long rocky ridges and sheltered valleys, some of which have been flooded to form reservoirs. The South West Peak area is a mix of heathered moorland, hills and broadening valleys. Small villages are located within the White Peak and South West Peak areas and the land is primarily used for farming and ranching. The Dark Peak area is relatively uninhabited except for a few scattered farms.

"This partnership between US investor Grand Heritage Hotel Group and a UK development company will deliver a phenomenal boost to the leisure industry in the Peak District," said Cameron in the Derbyshire Times. "This £400m ($605M) investment will deliver a world-class resort complex creating over 1,300 permanent jobs when it is completed and supporting hundreds of construction jobs as the site is developed."