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Don’t accept this blot on our city

9:01am Monday 20th August 2007


I write in response to the article on the redevelopment proposals by Taylor Wimpey for the Dyke Road site of the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Sick Children (The Argus, August 13).

Yet another unimaginative, bland proposal for the replacement of one of Brighton's acknowledged landmark buildings. While the provision of health care facilities, a community green, and a variety of flatted accommodation including affordable accommodation is welcomed, why should the city accept the replacement of a landmark building with a characterless blot on our cityscape?

The proposal is for a wide six or seven storey block with two other lower blocks facing south over the proposed green. The elevations are an arrangement of mean windows with token balconies roofed by a top floor of penthouses. Where are the solar panels?

The wind turbines? The rainwater storage and recycling systems? These are all needed to reduce the carbon footprint of the development.

The city must insist on a replacement that is eco-friendly and a 21st-century landmark incorporating the new, progressive, urban values of this city. In view of the appalling lost opportunities to provide such new facilities in Brighton central area by the former Labour-controlled council, it is imperative that the replacement Green councillors press for a quality replacement on this site. This is the hope of those who voted them in.

  • John Foley, Marine Parade, Brighton
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