Owners of the historic White Hart Hotel in Lincoln have submitted plans for the multi-million pound transformation of the property and its surroundings in the city's Uphill district.

London-based architects De Matos Storey Ryan have drawn up designs for the scheme, which involves the redevelopment of a site currently occupied by a car park on St Paul's Lane, and includes the removal of existing asbestos sheds. The project will see the 600-year-old hotel increase its capacity with the creation of a new three storey building, which will include three commercial units on the ground floor, and two storeys of 28 additional bedrooms. A new garden and a car park also form part of the plans.

One of four hotels operated by the Caparo Hotels company, plans for the White Hart have been developed with input from the City of Lincoln Council's planning, heritage and tourism departments, English Heritage and the East Midlands Design Review Panel. It is hoped that the scheme will help to increase the number of visitors to Lincoln, as well as improving the foreground of the nearby Lincoln Castle and re-establishing the St Paul's Lane thoroughfare as a tourist area.

Caparo Hotels chair, Ambar Paul, said: "The White Hart is an important part of the heritage as well as the future of Uphill Lincoln, and we strongly believe that a win approach for us will also translate into a win for the local community in more ways than one. "Our intention has and will always be to work hand-in-hand with the local council, community and any other organisation that has the better future of the area at heart."

Other hotels operated by Caparo Hotels include the four-star Osborne Hotel in Torquay and two Oxfordshire properties – the three-star Bignell Park Hotel in Bicester and the Upper Reaches Hotel in Abingdon. Image: De Matos Storey Ryan Architects