An architect said in a Planning application this week that the 34-year-old Fairmont Southampton hotel needed redevelopment because it continued to under-perform despite a $100 million investment by the Canadian hotel chain.

Fairmont Hotels and Resorts is seeking Planning approval to develop 54 tourist units and 90 golf villas at No. 101, South Shore Road, Southampton on March 9, as part of its "restructuring" of the building, built in 1972.

"It has become very clear that it is necessary for this resort to properly restructure itself in order to survive in this changing world," architect David Summers of Bermuda Caribbean Engineering Consultants said in the application. "Built in a different tourism era, the resort is simply not able to compete in today's tourism marketplace.

"In spite of significant investment, the resort continues to under-perform expectations," it said.

The application has concerned Shadow Environment Minister Cole Simons and Opposition Senate Leader Kim Swan about the loss of Bermuda's open space ? they wanted to make sure there was nowhere else Fairmont could build the 144 new units rather than lose eight of the hotel's 18-hole golf course.

However, Mr. Summers said in the application that the development was necessary to Fairmont, its employees and Bermuda.

"It is time to act," Mr. Summers said in the application. "A resort created a third of a century ago simply will not achieve the expectations that are so vital today."

Fairmont had come to "very positive" conclusions to solve the "dilemma" of the under-performing Fairmont Southampton. However, Mr. Summers admitted the solution was of a major scale for Bermuda.

"With the sole exception of the Government of Bermuda, Fairmont is the largest employer in Bermuda by far," he said. "The fact that this overall facility is currently failing to meet expectations and the demands of today's tourist industry is a telling factor."

Mr. Summers said the new 144 units ? styled as new luxury accommodation ? were designed to blend into the natural landscape.

Heritage Place, consisting of nine, two- and three-storey tourist units built on "Turtle Hill" would not touch a wooden hillside.

"In addition to attracting visitors this concept is also targeting the upper income group," he said. "Since 1998 Fairmont invested $60 million upgrading the facility," it said.

It also invested a further $40 million in repairs after Hurricane Fabian in 2003.

Fairmont Southampton's 596 rooms ? 35,500 square feet of meeting space ? equalling one-fifth of the total number of hotel rooms in Bermuda, it said.

There will be no new cars involved, he said, as golf-carts and livery cycles would be used instead.

And there will be no closure, demolition, or redundancies with this plan, he said.

Mr. Summers asked Planning to make a quick decision about the application because the "revitalisation" of Bermuda's tourism product was "too important not to be acted upon expeditiously".

The average time taken to process Planning applications in 2004 and 2005 was nine-and-a-half weeks.