EXCAVATION work is under way at the site of a former conference space to construct a new nine-storey hotel near the seafront.
The exhibition space at the back of the Metropole Hotel in Cannon Place, Brighton, has been demolished, with a new building with 221 bedrooms to be constructed.
Almost all of the original building has been torn down, with a large trench visible as work begins on the new hotel.
Brighton and Hove city councillors approved plans for the hotel last year after the city’s tourism team said the loss of the conference space, last used in 2018, would not affect Brighton’s ability to host large conferences.
A condition of the planning permission granted by the council requires the site’s owner, Topland, to spend £50,000 on public art.
At a meeting last year, independent councillor Tony Janio called for the funds to be spent on original artwork.
He said: “I’d like to see a bonkers piece of art down there so when people walk by from Churchill Square, they think ‘isn’t that unusual. This is why we’ve come to Brighton and Hove’.”
Topland is expected to lease the new Cannon Place hotel to Irish company Dalata for 35 years, while Hilton Hotels will continue to run the Metropole.
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