UK-based hotel group von Essen has postponed the opening of its latest 70-bedroom hotel currently being built by the side of the River Thames in Battersea, London.

Verta, the seven-storey hotel, will feature a subterranean spa and a rooftop restaurant. The spa, covering two levels below the boutique property, includes treatment rooms, a hydrotherapy pool and an aromatherapy sanarium. The company has been forced to postpone the opening from June to September due to unforeseeable delays in the excavation of the site.

The project, called Bridges Wharf Hotel and Heliport, also includes a new terminal for Battersea Heliport, as well as a reception and business meeting room. A spokesperson for AEON architects, which is designing the project, said: "The hotel is an integral element within the innovative redevelopment of a complex mixed-use site that includes apartments, live-work units, offices and commercial space.

"What makes this scheme truly unique however, is the fact that it includes the new London Heliport terminus."