Capital Economy, Business and Finance
The Serious Fraud Office is investigating the construction of a four-star hotel in Birmingham owned by one of the UK’s biggest trade unions. Unite the Union decided to build Aloft – a 195-bedroom hotel and conference centre – in 2012. It was meant to pay for itself in saved conference fees and was initially budgeted at £7 million, but a Tortoise investigation in 2022 revealed that about £112 million of its members’ money had been spent on construction. The venue is now valued at just £29 million. Sharon Graham, who became Unite general secretary in 2021, swiftly ordered a KC-led inquiry into the project, which also identified a missing £14 million.
