Brighton flats take shape at site of demolished Victorian buildings

The buildings on the east side of Pelham Street in Brighton were torn down to make way for a new six-storey block, which will include 135 flats.

Cranes tower over the construction site with several floors of the new building already being built.

The new development sits on the site of two 19th-century buildings, designed by architect Thomas Simpson - one of which originally housed the York Place Elementary School.

One of the two Victorian-era buildings torn down to make way for the new housing development (Image: Public domain)

The buildings were sold off by Greater Brighton Metropolitan College to help fund the extension to the main college building on the other side of the street.

The almost-complete £16 million extension, on the south side of the further education college’s tower block, is home to a new creative and digital industries training centre.

A councillor accused the college of a “gross neglect of civil duty” last year after the development snubbed the council’s policy of encouraging affordable housing.

In a planning committee meeting for Brighton and Hove City Council, Councillor Nick Childs said that the new development was “vulgar and nasty”.

Cranes tower over the new development in Pelham Street, Brighton (Image: Newsquest)

He said: “You’re pulling down one of the Simpson Brighton and Preston and Hove School Board buildings and replacing it with a block of flats that could be anywhere.

“The thing that really concerns me is what I can only conclude to be a gross neglect of civil duty by those involved in this development.

“A development of this size without one affordable housing unit is an affront and an outrage to the people of this city.

“I think it’s outrageous - and what irony that a piece of land that was owned and paid for by the ratepayers of this city and handed over to the private entity of the college in 1992 is now being disposed of and nothing being given back in return.”

The committee granted planning permission, despite votes against by Cllr Childs and independent councillor Bridget Fishleigh.

The plans for the development include one studio, 57 one-bed flats, 65 two-bed flats and 12 three-bedroom flats.