REBUILDING Brighton's burned-out Royal Albion Hotel could cost up to £7 million.

Building experts say the figure already stands at £3 million, but the final cost could easily be double that once inspectors have examined the interior.

Demolishing the Grade 2 listed building and starting from scratch is an unlikely option for owners Britannia Hotels because of the extra time it will take before it can reopen for business.

Either way, the hotel, a key gateway into Brighton, will be a construction site for up to a year, possibly two, with the Aquarium Terraces development also taking place.

Today, as firefighters continued damping down, police were slowly reopening roads around the devastated hotel.

Pavements and roads immediately around the site will remain closed for the next few days because the building is considered unsafe.

Crime has been ruled out as the cause of the blaze.

Insp Steve Voice, in charge of policing the site, said: "We made preliminary inquiries as a matter of routine but there will be no investigation. It seems it was an accident."

The fire started as chefs were preparing breakfast in a ground-floor kitchen. Flames shot from a pan into an extractor duct up through to the roof, spreading fire on each level.

Amazingly, some parts of the historic hotel escaped serious damage. The roof and top floor were destroyed and the ground-floor dining room was damaged when the two five-ton central chimney stacks were sent crashing down.

But apart from water damage, rooms on the first two floors and furniture were relatively unscathed.

East Sussex fire chief Alan McCormack said the building had no sprinkler system but there were fire separation walls and the hotel had an up-to-date fire certificate.

Three times firefighters were ordered out of the building for safety. On one occasion, it meant crews lost the battle to save the east wing top floor. As soon as they left, flames ripped through.

Every aerial appliance in both East and West Sussex brigades was used, and crews from as far afield as Battle, Chichester and Haywards Heath were brought in, 160 firefighters in all.

Emergency services, hotel chiefs and Brighton and Hove council officials and local bus companies representatives, met last night to discuss the next moves.

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