Construction Industry News Archive
Welcome to the news archive page. This is where you will find articles from December 2006. If you would like to view our current news, please click here.
- Historic buildings to be restored
- Marina reveals plans
- Fans' shock as council wins stadium delay
- Latest towers plan is ‘harsh and unfriendly’
- Plans for £10m market unveiled
- Go-ahead for £100m marina development
Historic buildings to be restored
Historic buildings are to be restored in a project worth £1.7 million.
The worst-conditioned structures in St Leonards will undergo restoration to return them to their Georgian and Victorian glory days.
The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) contributed £850,000 as part of a townscape heritage initiative programme and Hastings Borough Council is funding the rest.
Councillor Matthew Lock, for regeneration and planning, said:
"We are embarking on a whole range of positive initiatives in St Leonards but we face difficulties in financing all our aspirations. Without help like these grants we may not be able to address disrepair and dereliction so effectively."
Areas to be targeted first are London Road, Warrior Square, Kings Road and Silchester Road.
From The Argus, 5th December 2006
Marina reveals plans
The latest designs to transform the western end of Brighton Marina were unveiled on Friday.
If approved there would be more than 1,000 new homes, 500 of which would be affordable, and at least 400 new jobs.
The new community would have new streets, bridges, cycle paths and open spaces.
There would be a lagoon, play area and park under the cliff walk, a transport hub by the shopping district, a 2.5km jogging track, community hall, crèche and new doctors' surgery.
Gardens would grow from the roof of a rebuilt Asda, public art would brighten several corners and a pagoda covered in plants and flowers would cover the roof of the multi-storey car park.
The latest designs were unveiled by Explore Living, the housebuilding arm of construction giant Laing O'Rourke, at the start of a week-long public exhibition.
They have been drawn up following a five-month consultation with more than 1,500 people.
The plans are independent of the Brunswick Development, which includes a 40-storey skyscraper dubbed the Roaring Forties and which has already been given planning permission.
The Explore Living plans has pedestrian areas such as a piazza-style "squareabout"
with cafs in the centre, an entertainments area with fountains and plants between the car park.
There will also be a bowling alley, a casino and a sand arena for football and volleyball where an ice rink can be installed in winter. Project leader Jim Dennis said:
"We have looked at the area as a whole and tried to make the whole space somewhere where people will want to come and spend time wandering around in."
Mr Dennis said one of the main concerns revealed in the consultation was the height of buildings and some had been reduced from 26 storeys to ten and from 15 storeys to six as a result.
He said concerns about transport links, resulted in plans for a new station for buses, taxis and tuk-tuks and rapid bus routes from town to the marina, while comments from health authorities about healthy living led to the jogging track and new surgery. Mr Dennis said:
"I think a lot of people have been surprised that we actually listen to their concerns."
From The Argus, 4th December 2006
Fans' shock as council wins stadium delay
Campaigners backing a new football stadium at Falmer were stunned yesterday when the Government agreed to grant Lewes District Council more time to object to the plans.
Ruth Kelly, Communities and Local Government Secretary, made the decision to the bitter disappointment of longsuffering Brighton and Hove Albion fans.
The decision raises the possibility of the public inquiry being re-opened.
The Argus revealed on Saturday that Albion's Falmer dream had moved a step closer because a date had been set for written representations to be handed to the Government, which is reconsidering the club's application for a stadium.
But yesterday Ms Kelly confirmed she had agreed to Lewes District Council's request to extend the December 28 deadline until February 15. The council can now submit new evidence on an alternative site at Sheepcote Valley, despite the inspector at the last public inquiry concluding that transport concerns made the site unworkable and that no site other than Falmer was likely to be granted planning permission.
Albion's chief executive Martin Perry said:
"This is undeniably a setback and we are surprised and disappointed that the extension now gives Lewes the chance to submit new evidence on Sheepcote Valley.
However, we are ready and we stand by our evidence that Falmer is without doubt the only viable site for the community stadium. Every week this drags on is hurting us financially."
He claimed Lewes council:
"Did not care about the 40-odd thousand supporters who love the club, nearly 400 jobs that will be lost, or more than 13,000 kids who benefit from our schemes in the community.
In their own words the gloves are off and we are now seeing what they meant by that."
Despite Lewes insisting it did not want the public inquiry to be re-opened, campaigners fear the submission of new evidence could lead Ms Kelly to do just that.
Simon Burgess, leader of Brighton and Hove City Council, said:
"It is very disappointing. The reality is that if Lewes had stopped playing games months ago we wouldn't be here now going over the same old arguments.
I'm just very angry for all the supporters. These constant delays are hurting the club financially and draining everyone's spirits but I remain confident that Falmer will be approved."
Seagulls fans' hopes of a decision by March have been dented by the news. The best they can hope for now is a decision in late summer when Ms Kelly will either make a decision on the evidence or re-open the public inquiry.
Falmer For All campaigner Ed Bassford said:
"The argument against Sheepcote Valley will stand up to any scrutiny. It is a fight Lewes cannot win."
Lewes council yesterday claimed victory in the long-running saga. Planning councillor David Neighbour said:
"The club knew it was taking a big risk going for a site in the proposed National Park. We are not surprised the Government now realises it should look again at the alternatives."
From The Argus, 29th November 2006
Latest towers plan is ‘harsh and unfriendly’
Conservationists have produced a damning report on the latest blueprint for architect Frank Gehry's £290 million King Alfred towers.
The Regency Society says the scheme on the seafront in Hove would be "garish" and "overbearing, domineering, harsh and unfriendly".
The society has consistently opposed the idea of building more than 700 flats while reconstructing the King Alfred leisure centre in Kingsway.
In its new report, it questions the environmental credentials of the scheme which it says would have a "devastating impact" on people living nearby, some of whom would have their "sunlight and daylight reduced to an unacceptable degree".
It queries whether Frank Gehry's reputation has allowed him to avoid tough scrutiny by the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (Cabe).
Michael Ray, the society's chairman, writes:
"The Regency Society has sent representations to the city council urging that the Gehry scheme in its present form should be rejected.
The society has particular concerns about the impact of the proposals, even in their revised form, on neighbouring properties and especially on their outlook, daylight and sunlight.
It feels that the latest version of the proposals still incorporates internal piazzas, which will be overshadowed and unpleasant.
The design of the towers leaves too much to chance and there must be grave doubts about the suitability of the materials to be used. It abhors the garish colours selected for the sports centre.
Although claimed to be a green sustainable scheme, the society believes it does not live up to the claims.
Overall there would be too much development on this crucial seafront site and before any consent is granted the proposals need to be severely cut back and redesigned."
If the council approves the planning application due to come before it next year, the society wants the plans to be "called in" by the Government Office South East for a public inquiry. Its previous calls for it to intervene have failed.
John Small, secretary of the Regency Society, said:
"The principal reason for calling it in is because it is land that is owned by Brighton and Hove City Council and therefore they are making a decision about something which has a big economic effect on them."
Last month the council's policy and resources committee agreed to support the planning application with an amendment that the council would work with developer Karis to move some of the 754 homes to another site.
Karis has submitted its planning application without relocating any properties.
The scheme would provide 275 affordable homes and community facilities such as a surgery, pharmacy and police station.
Josh Arghiros, managing director of Karis Developments, said:
"Both Cabe and English Heritage are now public in their support of the project. I believe that if the Regency Society looked at the fine detail. they would see their concerns in relation to overshadowing and lack of daylight are actually unfounded and the sustainability and green credentials are second to none.
In terms of suitability for the site, if they sit and look for it properly, they would see the project is supported by local infrastructure. We are very happy with it and we think it is one of the most exciting projects in Britain. The Regency Society are one of the few groups that don't back it."
From The Argus, 28th November 2006
Plans for £10m market unveiled
Traders believe a new £10 million market could regenerate a "forgotten" part of the city centre.
Plans have been unveiled which would transform the Open Market in London Road, Brighton, into a continental- style covered area with 70 stalls selling local food.
Housing developments on the Francis Street side of the site would help to fund much of the project.
Stallholders at the existing market and traders in London Road shops were excited by the proposals. They said the area badly needed the injection of cash.
Several businesses in London Road have closed down. The flagship Co-op department store will shut down in February.
The new market would have a large central square surrounded by stalls and be overlooked by a first-floor gallery with workshops for artists and craftsmen to work and sell their wares.
Fifty of the ground floor stalls would be held by permanent users and the others by visiting traders.
From The Argus, 23rd November 2006
Go-ahead for £100m marina development
A £100 million development which would transform a run-down harbour has been given the go-ahead.
Newhaven Town Council's planning applications committee last night agreed plans for the development which include building more than 500 apartments, some in nine-storey blocks.
There are also plans for shops, restaurants, a nightclub and flood defences.
The development, submitted by Oakdeane Homes plc, is planned for the Newhaven Marina and Fort Road area of the town. It also includes plans to convert the listed former Marine and Carpenters workshop buildings on Railway Quay into a leisure complex which would include a nightclub, gym, hotel and roof-top restaurants.
Among objections raised by councillors and members of the public, were concerns about traffic the development would attract to already gridlocked areas of the town near South Road.
Eileen Farrow, of South Road, said:
"The pollution is unacceptable. We should be taken into consideration when plans come into being."
Councillor Pat Ost said:
"There will come a time people will die because vehicles can't get through."
The police station and fire station are both on nearby Fort Road.
Architect of the plans, John McLean, agreed there was a need to look at more sustainable forms of transport in the town.
Concerns were also raised about the height of some buildings in the development, a lack of infrastructure to support the plans and a lack of affordable housing.
Just five per cent of the development is earmarked for affordable housing compared to Lewes District Council's policy of 25 per cent.
Mr McLean said this was because of the cost of developing run-down areas in the Railway Quay area.
Chairman of the committee Rod Main warned that without the development, the neglected waterfront was in danger of collapsing and the East Side flooding. He said:
"We are looking at the possibility of the waterfront collapsing. We broadly welcome this development but there are buts."
Councillor Judith Ost said:
"We are only going to get public infrastructure off the back of commercial development."
Phase one of the development is already underway.
The plans will now be passed to Lewes District Council for consideration next year.
From The Argus, 22nd November 2006
