The plot chosen for the hotel lies along the Ernakulam-Alleppey bypass of National Highway No. 47, about 6 kilometres south of Ernakulam. The entire property measuring about 5 acres or about 20,000 square meters belonged to Mr. Jaigopal's family. It is bound by the backwaters on the western side and the road on the eastern side. Being aligned to a water body, they were not permitted to use of the part of the plot, within 100 meters from the high tide line of the water body for any permanent construction, as per the coastal regulation zone. This largely determined the zoning of the various activities on the plot. The land, which was originally a part of the paddy fields, was predominantly clayey, with the rock bed only 60 meters below the ground level. This had to be filled up with soil for a height of 1 meter so as to make it just about a little higher than the maximum high tide level of the stretch of backwaters. |
