English Heritage, the Conservation Areas Advisory Group and Brighton and Hove City Council's own conservation and design team objected to the proposed eight-storey tower in Connaught Road and were also ignored.
The architects have compared themselves to Beethoven and the Impressionist painters, whom they claim were similarly misunderstood in their time.
They also compared their design to Le Corbusier's Unit d'Habitation in Marseilles. These claims are out of all proportion to the site in question.
The architects claim in a letter to council officers (and distributed to councillors) "the council's conservation officer together with similarly minded conservation colleagues on the CAG sic have had a... recent meeting with... English Heritage". No such meeting has taken place.
The Connaught Road scheme also made unusually swift progress through the planning system.
Perhaps there was not enough time for some officers and councillors to fully consider their recommendations.
-Selma Montford, Chair of the Conservation Areas Advisory Group
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