A CARPENTER remains in a critical condition after he plunged 20ft from a building site in Brighton’s Stanmer Park.

Dave Clarke was working at the stable block next to Stanmer House when he is believed to have fallen through a ceiling at the redevelopment project yesterday morning.

Three teams of paramedics were called at 8.30am and tried to treat Mr Clarke at the scene but firefighters were needed to help free him from the site.

They moved him on to the cricket
pitch in front of Stanmer House, where he was taken by air ambulance to St George’s Hospital in Tooting, London.

Police confirmed that the Health and Safety Inspectorate (HSE) is investigating the fall.

Eyewitnesses saw at least seven emergency crews arrive and work swiftly to make the area safe.

John Lawrance, a member of the Stanmer Park Preservation Society, said: “I walk my dog there every day but the road was blocked and we were kept back.

“I’ve never seen the air ambulance in action before and it was quite a shock seeing it land there.”

Stanmer House waitress Amy Williams, 18, from Brighton, said: “We heard lots of noise and saw lots of emergency services arrive.

Some of the customers watched from the window as the man was lifted into the air ambulance.”

Colleague Yolanda Ray, 22, also from Brighton, said: “We tried to keep out of the way and just look after the customers. The emergency services dealt with the situation really well.”

Mr Clarke, who is from Hove, was sub-contracted by businessman Mike Holland’s Hove-based Cherry- wood Investments, which is converting the building. Mr Holland, also proprietor of The British Engineerium museum in The Droveway, Hove, told The Argus he was in shock.
Simon Caplin, Cherrywood Investments office manager, said: “We are terribly upset. Our thoughts go out to David and his family and we naturally hope he is able to make a full
recovery.

A South East Coast Ambulance Service spokeswoman said it was possible he had fallen through a ceiling.

A Sussex Police spokesman said officers and the HSE were “looking into the circumstances” and an HSE spokesman confirmed an investigation had been launched.

Planning permission to convert the stable block buildings into seven two-bedroom houses and one two-bedroom flat was granted by Brighton and Hove City Council in January last year.

Today Sussex Police said Mr Clarke remains in a critical condition.