A Brighton property developer is making a fourth attempt to convert city centre offices into flats.
Baron Homes wants to turn two floors of the Tower Point office block into 22 new flats. Previous applications have been refused by Brighton and Hove City Council.
However, neighbours fear the flats would be used as holiday lets – in the same way another nearby block owned by Baron Homes, Windsor Court, is now being used.
One public comment on the application from a neighbour, whose details have been redacted says: “City plans and council reports indicate that there is still a need for small spaces and flexible working spaces.
“The applicant should relook at the current situation and market the existing offices again.
“The application states that the proposal to convert two floors of offices to residential will create a new windfall development for new homes in the city.
“Depends what is meant by ‘new homes’.
“These flats will probably be used for short-term lets, holiday lets, Airbnb etc which have appeared exponentially in North Laine, altering the demographics as well as being detrimental to the character of the conservation area – mainly because of the overwhelming amount of rubbish that is binned around the area.”
The application, written by agents Stickland Wright, says: “The proposal aims to bring underutilised areas of the building into use.
“The proposal will create high quality residential accommodation in the city centre whilst having minimal impact on the conservation area setting.
“In this submission we aim to show that the existing office use is no longer sustainable, proven by lack of demand through a long period of marketing.
“A mixed building use is therefore proposed, through the introduction of residential on upper floors.
“This will help preserve the vitality of Brighton’s central area, supporting existing uses through the ongoing occupancy of the building.”
If accepted this time, the upper floors of the shorter block above PureGym and the split level RCP car park, alongside Spring Gardens, would be converted into one and two bedroom flats.
These office floors are currently vacant and developers – Baron Homes – say they are “no longer sustainable, proven by lack of demand through a long period of marketing.”
The current proposals would not alter the building’s brutalist façade, only the internal layout of the building.
Baron Homes submitted three applications last year to convert the third, fourth and eighth floors to flats, all of which were refused.
Although the government changed the rules to allow offices to be converted into homes without planning permission in 2013, the council introduced an order reversing it for buildings in central areas of the city the following year.
An application to put a roof terrace restaurant on the top of the higher block approved in 2018 has never been implemented.
The current proposed development does not include any designated affordable housing provision, and the plans state that the flats are intended to suit individuals, alone or sharing, rather than families.
The flats would be car-free, with 24 cycle storage spaces to be included within the first floor of the car park below the new flats.
A new lift and stairs are included in the plans, as well as new entrance doors to the east of the building from Spring Gardens on the ground level.
There would be communal bin storage on the third and fourth floors, which the existing full time caretaker for the building would empty daily to the communal bin storage within the basement.
Four existing windows would be altered for smoke ventilation to the proposed residential third and fourth floors.
There is already one existing flat on the tenth floor of the building.
The block sits within the North Laine conservation area and is bordered by the Brighthelm Centre – a church, book shop and community centre.
The tower block is on the site of the original Hippodrome Circus, later known as the Grand Theatre, which was destroyed by fire in 1961.
The current building was originally known as Gresham House, and was renamed in 2000 as Tower Point.
You can read and comment on the application on the council’s planning portal by searching for the reference BH2023/02580.
Baron Homes were contacted for comment.
New developments seem to be in darkness at night, i think foreign buyers are buying them up just to get money into the UK. My friend lives in a block at the Marina and he says its very rare he see’s anyone else as most of the flats are not occupied.
Also the new development on Grand avenue is still mainly empty after being completed for a year i wonder why when we are so short of properties.
It’s a strong argument for principle-only housing.
The reason people don’t want an office or for that matter to live in flats there is because of the YMCA hostel next door. It’s full to the brim of people who spend all day street drinking and begging in the north lanes and then in the evening, screaming and fighting outside. Needs shutting down then the area might actually be a viable place to put your business.
You mean North Laine. And it’s as much to do with access. The entire building is served by just two small lifts and the stairwell is inaccessible to a lot of staff because you need a key so there are always big queues to get in at peak times. People using the two floors of coworking there don’t get access to the stairwell to get in and are in and out at all hours.
More like an airbnb extension. Baron Homes are not to be trusted.
No affordable, no approval. What part of this are they not getting?
Hopefully this gets turned down again. Heaven forbid there is actually places for people to live
Well they wouldn’t be places for people to live. They would end up being places for people to holiday in.
Yeah let’s never build any new homes in case people have the audacity to holiday in a seaside resort.
More homes means more places for both. This isn’t complicated.
Let’s not strawman the argument here, Nor. Let’s not build any new homes without a primary residence clause in case people have the audacity to build more AirBnB lets in a place that has as of today…4,700 current active lettings, and is in dire need of expanded housing stock.
Unfortunately, there’s more to it then what you’re suggesting.
I go past the new flats on Grand Ave every day and ask myself ‘why are there so many new developments going up in Brighton and Hove when these flats, in a prime location on the seafront, are not selling ? There’s also 4 empty buildings on The Drive in Hove- again prime location- boarded up and going derelict. What’s going on ?
The government isn’t doing enough to punish land banking. That’s what’s going on.
Empty properties are an investment, even if the market doesn’t actually want them at their valuation. If we made them expensive to hold on to then maybe we’d see a market that responds more quickly to people’s needs and actually dips in price time to time.
There is some legal precedent to this as well – I think you have a really strong idea. I might have to look into this more and see if it’s feasible…