Brighton West Pier restoration plans launched
Plans to at last achieve the full restoration of Brighton’s Grade 1 listed West Pier have today been launched by St Modwen Properties plc and the Brighton West Pier Trust at the start of a major public consultation on the future of one of Brighton’s most famous assets.
A quarter of a century after the major public campaign to ‘Save the West Pier’, the plans will deliver the authentic and lasting restoration and reconstruction (where necessary) of the Pier, recreating its 1920’s external appearance when, by common consent, the Pier was at its architectural best.
The existing Pier buildings will be fully refurbished to their 1920’s splendour and will re-introduce cultural, entertainment, leisure and retail uses compatible with its listed status. When completed the West Pier will be re-opened fully to the public for the first time since it closed in 1975.
Recent surveys undertaken by the Brighton West Pier Trust and St Modwen have shown that the Pier is in danger of further irreparable damage, unless restoration is commenced in the near future. Indeed the threat of further damage to the main Pier Buildings, from severe weather, is so high that emergency repair works, supported by English Heritage and, hopefully, the Heritage Lottery Fund, are to be carried out during 2002/2003. These works will be designed to preserve essential heritage features (especially the structure of the Concert Hall) and, as far as possible, to protect the main Pier Buildings from further deterioration and damage.
The various surveys and studies have indicated that the West Pier restoration project will cost over £30 million. The high costs are the result of the current state of disrepair, the need for authenticity and the necessity to carry out these works in a harsh marine environment.
The cost of the restoration plans will be financed partly by a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund and partly by funds from St. Modwen. The long-term viability of the Pier will require income generated by the development of two modern Pavilions on the Esplanade to the east and west of the Pier buildings. The Pavilions, designed by KSS Architects will include restaurant, bar, retail, leisure and entertainment uses and will also provide funding for the future maintenance and repair of the Pier for the next 150 years.
The Pavilion buildings will be no higher than the level of the top of the Al Fresco Restaurant to the west of the Pier and the level of the Rock Shop on the Pier itself. In design terms, the Pavilions have been divided on the upper levels in order to reduce the apparent building mass and to provide views through the buildings to the sea and the Pier.
Following public consultation with local residents and groups since July 2001, the plans have been modified to take account of comments made. In particular, the following changes have been made to the plans:
* Incorporation of breaks within the building mass to provide additional framed views of the West Pier and the horizon from the Kings Road esplanade
* Enlargement of the walkway zone along the seaward side of the proposed pavilions to allow greater public accessibility
* Redesign of the east end of the eastward pavilion to achieve a lighter more dynamic appearance
Incorporation of non-glazed areas on the buildings elevations, behind which the services to the pavilions can be coordinated and located.
Plans will be submitted to Brighton and Hove City Council for planning permission and listed building consent in early March 2002.
In order to give residents, businesses and visitors the opportunity to contribute their views on the proposals St Modwen and the Brighton West Pier Trust will be holding a Public Exhibition of the proposals at the Trust’s Offices on the West Pier from 10-16 April. In addition, a newsletter explaining the proposals will be distributed door-to-door to residents in Brighton and Hove including a FREEPOST comments card to encourage as many people as possible to make their views known.
If planning consent is granted emergency preservation work will start in late 2002. Restoration of the West Pier will start in Spring 2003, together with the enabling development. The restoration work will be complete and the West Pier will be open to the public, hopefully, by summer 2004.
Dr Geoff Lockwood, Chief Executive of Brighton West Pier Trust, said:
“The heart and focus of the plans is the authentic and high quality restoration of the West Pier. It is time for a celebration, after three decades of hope and faith.”
“The fact that it has taken the Trust six and a half years of intense negotiation to achieve these funded and realistic plans testifies to the complex nature of the project. Any further delay will put the pier and its restoration at severe risk”
“It is time to ensure that many future generations of Brighton residents and visitors will enjoy the experience of West Pier rather than looking at a rotting hulk and buying a postcard depicting what it was like in the 1920’s”.
Nick Doyle, Director of St Modwen, said:
“The restoration of the West Pier will not only bring back into public use a magnificent but sadly neglected part of Brighton’s heritage, it will also give a significant boost to tourism across the whole of the seafront.”
“We have spent a great deal of time discussing our proposals with English Heritage and Brighton and Hove City Council’s architectural experts. We are confident that the proposals for both the restoration of the Pier and the new Pavilions provide the right architectural solution that will give the West Pier a long term economically sustainable future.”
Councillor Ian Duncan, Brighton and Hove City Council Executive Councillor for Culture, said:
“This is a wonderful opportunity to move the restoration of the pier forward. We must all realise that we cannot make an enabling development wok, then we could, very sadly, be at the end of the road and decades of effort to save the pier will have been wasted.”
Contact: Paul Dimoldenberg
Director – Good Relations
0207 861 3122
0783 607 6069
