Development at Brighton Marina, which last year received a startling thumbs down from councillors, is back on the cards. Undeterred by Brighton & Hove city council’s rejection of its scheme, local company Brunswick Developments Group has bounced back with a fresh set of proposals for its £235m high-rise, residential-led scheme.
The company has now revised its plans, this time removing three buildings, adding more leisure and increasing the amount of parking. It submitted them at the beginning of this month. Managing director Andrew Goodall is confident, saying: “We have met all the concerns raised and, having done that, we should stand a good chance of success.”
The company’s original scheme received widespread support from CABE and English Heritage. And it came with a recommendation by council officers to grant consent. So the council’s refusal stunned everyone involved. However, Goodall says, the feedback was that Brunswick should “keep going” with its ambitions. “We received overwhelming support, urging us to continue,” he says.
Following the refusal, Brunswick initiated an appeal, which is scheduled to be heard by the Planning Inspectorate. But as, Goodall says, he would prefer to see a consent granted locally rather than by the ODPM.
“We don’t want to go to appeal,” he says. “We have put five months’ effort and work into redesigning the scheme. We have really listened to what was said and have acknowledged the concerns.”
Key changes include a 25% reduction in density, and the number of homes has been cut from 988 to 853, 40% of which will be affordable. The removal of three buildings has freed space for additional leisure, including an outdoor play facility, a youth chill-out area, two more gardens and extra community areas. Parking provision has also been increased significantly from 176 spaces to 496. Goodall says that is still only half of what could be included.
The new proposals seek to strike a balance, he explains, between dealing with concerns raised by council members and the public and the specific features of the complex. In addition to investment in public transport, the complex has also earned several significant eco ratings.
The complex comprises 11 buildings in total. The lower high-rise ones have been reduced in height. But a key part of the scheme – a 40-storey tower – remains untouched. This is because councillors did not raise any concerns about it. Plus, in the council’s own special planning guidance, the marina has been identified as a potential location for tall buildings.
Goodall hopes the application will be heard in the early summer. If Brunswick’s revised plans are approved, work on site could begin by the end of the year on what will be a five-year development process.
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Brighton is the focus of a number of significant projects. The £290m King Alfred mixed-use scheme at Hove, which will go before planners later this year, includes more than 700 flats in two towers and a series of perimeter blocks, and an indoor sports and swimming centre. Away from seafront activity, Brighton’s city-centre retail market has been relatively quiet since the start of the year, says Colin Brades, associate partner with Cluttons. But a handful of developments are now filling up, he says. Wildmoor’s North Street Quadrant in North Street is 90% let, and a deal involving lingerie retailer Bravissimo has taken Regina Estate’s redevelopment of Hanningtons department store closer to 100% occupancy. Brades says there is concern, however, about the future of London Road, which is suffering a double whammy with the relocation of Sainsbury’s and closure of a large Co-op department store. Along the coast, Hastings is aiming to make its economic difficulties a thing of the past. Inward investment, at one time, was virtually unheard of and property prices were the lowest in the South East. Speculative development, not surprisingly, was impossible to attract. Now, however, government investment is helping to drive a raft of initiatives by the Hastings & Bexhill Task Force – a collective of local, regional and national bodies co-ordinated by the South East England Development Agency. This summer, the town reaches a landmark stage when Sea Space, the task force development company, starts to deliver its first speculative office development. Two phases will eventually provide more than 80,000 sq ft on a derelict area known as the Gap Site, which is within the Priory Quarter. Keith Sadler, deputy project director for Sea Space, says: “It will be the first time for years that there has been a modern footplate available.” The first phase of the development is expected to start in the summer and be completed by the end of 2007. Sadler says two types of occupier are likely candidates. “This will change perceptions among local firms, who, used to space being so poor, gave up looking. But dangle the prospect of new space in front of them, and they will come forward. But, of course, we will also be targeting inward investors.” Meanwhile, a local employer is being courted for new space at Queensway Business Park, due for completion by the end of the year. In addition, Hastings’ innovation centre, which provides serviced office and workshop space aimed at technology-based companies, is due for completion this summer. Regeneration in Eastbourne has been boosted by news that Performance Retail Partnership and Lend Lease are to deliver a renewed town-centre retail offer. Nick Bond, commercial agency manager of local firm Ross & Co, says: “Eastbourne has for too long remained in the shadows of Brighton in terms of shopping. Other towns, such as Hastings, have also received a massive flow of investment. Eastbourne, to an extent, has stood still.” In Worthing as well, a number of projects are moving forward. Hanson Capital Management is preparing to submit a planning application this month for a mixed-use residential and leisure complex on the site of the rundown Teville Gate shopping centre. This follows a postponement late last year when the developer opted to redesign the residential element in line with comments from CABE and the South East Regional Design Panel. A single residential tower is now being replaced with two towers of different heights. As well as residential space, the scheme will house the relocated Aquarena swimming pool, convenience and food-led retail, a cinema, bingo hall and health and fitness provisions. “This area is a very prominent site, but it has been an eyesore for years,” says Neil Perrin of Hartnell Taylor Cook, joint agent with Intrinsic.Meanwhile, what the local authority sees as the first building block towards regeneration has been put in place with its £10m sale of the seafront Grafton site to City & Provincial, where the company plans a residential and retail scheme.Worthing council plans to reinvest the proceeds from the sale in leisure facilities, including a redevelopment of the Aquarena site. |
