THE Hove businessman behind the new multi-million King Alfred Leisure Centre has promised the scheme will not be dashed on the rocks of a global financial crash like its predecessor.

Rob Starr, whose charity has been selected with Crest Nicholson for the regeneration of the Hove seafront site, said he was confident the project would not go the way of the previous Frank Gehry scheme which was pulled in 2008.

The partnership was selected by councillors behind closed doors ahead of a bid by French developer Bouygues featuring the work of Brighton architect Nick Lomax.

The first details of the chosen project were officially revealed yesterday morning with residents learning the long-awaited £40 million leisure centre will stand next to a development of 560 flats in towers of up to 18 storeys high.

A swimming pool with changeable depths, an increased sized sports hall and a martial arts dojo will all be included in the new King Alfred Leisure Centre.

Fuller details and designs will not be released until the end of a ten day "standstill" period with all those involved in the process, which has taken more than three years to get to this stage, under strict instructions not to speak to the press.

Questions had been raised in the open part of the meeting by councillors concerned about the impact of any potential global financial crash on the 2major scheme.

Mr Starr told The Argus while there were lessons to be learned from the previous aborted Frank Gehry scheme and that direct comparisons including the risk of his project suffering the same fate could not be made.

He said: “Absolutely not at all, we would not be going into this, and we would never have made it this far in the process, unless we could prove its financial viability.

“There’s a lot of things that keep me awake at night but that is not one of them.

“You can’t even compare to the previous Frank Gehry scheme in how it’s financed, they are just completely different.”

Mr Starr, who did not celebrate the news on Thursday night but went to a business meeting at 7.30pm instead, described the news as “amazing” though it had not sunk in yet.

He said he was conscious that the hotly anticipated plans may not please everybody.

He said: “Some people will love the scheme and some people won’t be so keen on it but we can defend it.

“We won’t be able to please everyone, we can only do the best we can do.”

Hove MP Peter Kyle gave his backing to the scheme after being briefed on the bids this week.

He described the plan as “well thought through, bold, highly functional” with “plenty of fantastic new public space both outside and in” with new sports facilities “nothing short of stunning” making great use of its beachfront location.

He added: “I am excited by the prospect of a strong design that is both sensitive to our heritage yet points to our future.”