Gallan Group, the Irish-owned property company based in the UK, has secured Standard Life Investments, on behalf of South Yorkshire Pensions Authority, to forward fund the development of a 210-bedroom Travelodge hotel near the Bullring shopping centre in Birmingham.

The hotel forms part of a £45m (€53.75m) development that will also include a Maldron hotel, shops, restaurants, bars and offices. Gallan, which is headed by Jackie Gallager, said the Travelodge hotel would be completed in April of next year and up to 1,000 jobs would be created as part of the wider development.

The group is looking to buy more land at present and is willing to pay up to £40m for appropriate sites with retail or mixed-use development potential.

Jackie Gallagher was a director of JJ Gallagher before setting up Gallan. Its projects include a 90-acre joint venture in Peterborough where up to 1,000 residential units are planned. One of its previous developments involved the redevelopment of the former UGC cinema in Birmingham into 80 apartments, all of which were pre-sold. In the same city, it acquired a pub, secured planning permission for 36 units and then sold it on to a division of Barratts.