Hotel group Whitbread has submitted a planning application to convert the offices used for the location of Alan Sugar's series, The Apprentice, into a 120-bedroom Premier Inn.

The application to transform the 10-storey former Amstrad headquarters in Essex has been submitted to Brentwood Borough Council. Mark Anderson, property director for Whitbread Hotels and Restaurants, said: "The deal we've struck with Amsprop, Alan Sugar's development company and owner of the premises, means that we will have a strategically-located hotel opposite Brentwood train station and just 10 minutes from Stratford and the Olympic site.

"Our continuing expansion in London will make us one of the largest hotel providers in the capital for 2012 and nearby sites such as Brentwood House will add to the offer." Anderson added that in order for the company to reach its targets of 55,000 Premier Inn rooms within the next five years it will need to look creatively at sites. "Office conversions are part of that. In the current climate, many vacant office buildings can be put into profitable use by working with the right partner."

Construction work is expected to begin in early 2009 and will open next Autumn.