A firm of architects has been called in by receivers to rescue a derelict hotel.

Morgan Carr Partnership Architects in Brighton has drawn up proposals to create 45 residential apartments and five mews houses at the site of the Lansdowne Place Hotel in Hove.

The administrator KPMG asked the architect to draw up the scheme because a buyer cannot be found for the property, which is in a poor state of repair.

The Lansdowne Hotel in Hove collapsed into administration in January. According to a report from KPMG, the hotel owed its bank, Santander UK, close to £9 million.

The report also reveals the hotel owed £16,000 to people who had booked functions at the hotel, including weddings. It also owed £10,000 to people who had bought gift vouchers.

A string of heartbroken customers contacted The Argus in the wake of the hotel’s closure to say they had been left in the lurch over bookings.

The administrator said the hotel’s former operators have no involvement in the new plans. The main building of the five- storey hotel will be demolished and replaced with 43 three and five-storey apartments.

The mews houses at the back of the hotel will be turned into penthouse apartments. Councillor Phelim MacCafferty, who represents the Brunswick and Adelaide constituency, held a meeting to show the administrator’s plans to residents.

A spokeswoman for KPMG said that 40% of the units will be affordable.

The plans include rented and shared ownership.

She said: “As part of an application to replace the kitchen with mews houses in 2004, the prop- erty already has planning permission for a single-storey roof extension.

“We propose to replace this with two penthouse apartments. The extension is set back from the main road and cannot be seen from the street. The main features will be kept and we think it will benefit from renovation.”

Alice Hammond, who lives near the dilapidated hotel, said she wanted to see it put back into use, but she had some concern over the plans.

She said: “It’s awful to see such a lovely building currently looking like an eyesore, but if it becomes residential there will be problems with local parking.”