Regeneration plan for Brighton Square unveiled (From The Argus)

Regeneration plan for Brighton Square unveiled

1:50pm Tuesday 25th September 2012 in Business News By John Keenan, business editor

A forgotten corner of the city is to get a new lease of life. Brighton-based developer Centurion Group and West Register, part of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group, are working together to launch a regeneration scheme in the heart of The Lanes.

West Register is seeking consent to build a new lane between Brighton Place and Meeting House Lane. The work will take place in the old, part-derelict Hanningtons Department Store service yard, with a new link to North Street.

At the same time Centurion is looking to enhance and refurbish Brighton Square. The proposed scheme comprises elements of employment generating uses, including small unit retail, office, residential and a hotel. Close co-operation between the two landowners and with Brighton and Hove City Council is aiming to ensure that the two applications work together under a strategic masterplan to regenerate the whole area.

A public exhibition is to be held in the former Solutions store adjacent to Donatello restaurant in Brighton Place on Thursday from noon until 6pm.

Director at West Register, Joss Brushfield, said: “The proposed development will bring disused storage and service areas into economic use, generating jobs, attracting shoppers and tourists and creating economic and physical regeneration in the heart of Brighton. “The design and quality need to be of the highest standards in order to make this work with the rest of the Lanes and we are working in close cooperation with local architects, Morgan Carn, local agents Ellis & Partners and development managers Landid to ensure that we deliver the very best development, as Brighton deserves.”

Director at Centurion Group, Ed Allison-Wright, said: “This is a burning aspiration that we have been working towards since our acquisition of the Brighton Square portfolio at the beginning of this year. “Although the square is already performing better than it was on day one in January, it's still clear that we currently suffer from the ‘worst house on the best road’ analogy.

“As such, we have continued to invest into and conduct comprehensive due diligence to explore what we can do, both as landlords and as devoted local residents, to create the sustainable, enduring asset to Brighton and Hove's economy that Brighton Square holds the potential to be, whilst also aiming to provide a catalyst for future enhancement of the Old Town.

“Centurion Group's connection with Brighton Square has spanned generations, as its original developer in the 1960s was Charles Hunnisett, the grandfather of our current chairman, Charles Draycott - we therefore seek to meet life-long ambitions for the group in relation to Brighton Square, through implementing this scheme.

“We look forward to discussing our ideas with local stakeholders and the general public in due course and hope that the support in progressing these aspirations continues to be strong.”

John McLean, director at Morgan Carn Partnership, said: “This is a tremendously exciting opportunity to be part of a major rejuvenation of an important destination within Brighton and Hove."

Tony Mernagh, executive director of Brighton and Hove Economic Partnership, said: “Much of the attention around physical developments in the city is focused on the big sites like Toads Hole Valley and Hove Station but it is equally essential that the Old Town is able to hold its own in the city’s overall ‘offer’, particularly to the 8.5 million visitors that support a large part of the local economy. It is an exciting opportunity that will very much complete a part of the jigsaw that is The Lanes.”