AN EXPERIENCED businessman hoping to shake up housing has announced his own masterplan for the King Alfred leisure centre.

Hugh Dennis, founder of not-for-profit developer Little Ships, has released his idea for the Hove site, proposing to build six apartment blocks and three public squares to create a “King Alfred Quarter”.

If the company’s plans are approved, underground sports facilities and a swimming pool would also be constructed on the site of the seaside leisure centre.

Mr Dennis, 51, said only a not-for-profit developer could deliver a project at the site as multiple proposals have fallen through.

He said: “Because things always go wrong when you dig up a site, you always need to have a safety buffer of money for contingency plans.

“But for-profit companies need to deliver a lot of money to their shareholders, typically a fifth of the worth of the project, so they can’t account for much risk.

“As we’re not delivering a profit, we can account for more risk and reinvest the remaining money back in our other projects, while giving some to Brighton and Hove City Council.

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

“A company that is not-for-profit should be given a go at this site.”

If Little Ships is successful in buying the site, Mr Dennis promised to retain any leftover money for the development in case things go wrong.

Any surplus funds left over after construction would be split 50-50 between his company and the city council.

Last month developer Crest Nicholson pulled out of its plans for the King Alfred, claiming there was so much uncertainty around Brexit it could not afford to build any affordable housing.

Council leader Nancy Platts had called the announcement “disappointing” but said she would make “no apologies” for demanding cheaper flats.

Now Little Ships founder Mr Dennis, who has worked as a director for developers Add Architecture and Rosefield Group, has said his plan would deliver 550 flats on Hove seafront.

And he claimed he would be able to hit the city council’s target of ensuring 40 per cent of the flats are affordable.

But the Hove resident said the project would involve digging up the entire site in order to use its underground space.

He said: “So much of the King Alfred is sunken and underground but a lot of people don’t notice it.

“So we’re going to dig up the site to create an underground shoebox for facilities, then build public squares and flats on top to not waste the sea views.

“We’ve been working on this plan for a couple of years now.

“But we’d like this to be a community-driven project, so in the future we want to ask people what facilities they would like to see. Maybe they want more recording studios or cafes.

“We haven’t yet planned what will be in these squares, so it’s up to what the people want.”

And though detailed plans are far from finalised, Mr Dennis said he would prefer if the site had no parking, instead being served by public transport.

“Our idea would be to have no parking on the site and instead make sure we’re served by good bus routes,” he said.

“There’s definitely a bigger conversation to be had about that.”

When asked why residents should trust Little Ships with a project bigger companies have failed to deliver, Mr Dennis said: “Little Ships has got the expertise and experience of big regeneration projects.

“We have been looking at ways of getting control of the site for years now. The sudden withdrawal of Crest Nicholson has prompted us to step up now.”

Mr Dennis said he had approached the city council and Rob Starr, a charity chief involved in negotiations on the King Alfred project.

He added: “The sums on this site have not added up for the past 20 years.

“A for-private-profit developer simply cannot deliver five or six hundred flats and a leisure centre on the site.

“Involve major players and you run the risk that pressure mounts to add yet hundreds more flats.

“Thankfully, such oversized solutions have been ruled out by wise heads in the planning department and by local residents’ groups keen to regenerate Hove seafront sensitively and sustainably.”

A council spokesman said: “We are at present re-examining the project and will make a decision about how we want to take it forward.

“As part of that process we may seek future people to partner with. Not-for-profit developers would be able to join that procurement process if and when it happens.”

  • Previously Hugh Dennis was reported as an architect. The Argus is happy to point out Mr Dennis is actually a businessman.