New project for former Amex House site in Edward Street will bring 2,000 jobs

Development company First Base has teamed up with Patron Capital investment fund to produce detailed plans for the Edward Street quarter.

The plans go before councillors next week and, if approved, would include enough office space to accommodate 2,000 staff, 168 new homes, a GP surgery and community space to be rented out to local groups.

Dan May, head of design at First Base, said: “This is all about jobs because jobs create regeneration.

“We will be looking to bring in companies who employ between ten and 50 people.

“These kind of companies would have started with smaller numbers and now we believe many of them need someone to move into.

“We don’t want them going to London or elsewhere.

“We want to give them a reason to stay in Brighton and we believe that at the moment there is limited space available.”

If approved, work will start in September and it should open by the end of 2020.

Mr May said this will be great for business but acknowledges there have been some concerns locally.

He said: “We have engaged with local residents and we have tried to reassure them as much as we can.

“This new site will not be as high as Amex House but we accept there are some concerns.

“We think we have got the balance right.

“The balance is clearly between local objectives and citywide objectives.

“This is in the Queen’s Park area, which it is fair to say is in an area of deprivation.”

Mr May believes the economic uplift to Brighton’s economy could be as much as £200 million over the next ten years.

There will be 150 construction jobs created and, once open, he says the annual spend in the local economy from the Edward Street Quarter will be £4.2 million annually.

He insists it will be high standard office space.

He said: “We are obsessed with high quality design space.

“We are investing in this for the long-term and therefore it all needs to be high quality.

“And we are confident we will achieve that.”