A councillor has asked how much taxpayers’ money has been spent so far on demolishing the fire-ravaged Royal Albion Hotel, on Brighton seafront.
Conservative councillor Anne Meadows also asked how much had been spent on related legal fees at a Brighton and Hove City Council meeting on Thursday (24 October).
The council took charge of dismantling a significant section of the building, owned by Britannia Hotels, after a blaze ripped through the premises in July last year.
At Hove Town Hall, Councillor Meadows said: “Has the money been returned to us yet as the insurance should have paid out?
“Do you know when the Royal Albion will be rebuilt and is it at the same time as Valley Gardens phase three?”
The Labour leader of the council Bella Sankey said that taking action to carry out and pay for “vital emergency work” had not been a choice because the council had a duty to keep people safe.
Councillor Sankey said that she did not have the figures to hand but, in February this year, the council said that the cost was more than £1.5 million.
She said: “We have been very public in the past about what the current bill is for the demolition work.
“We are actively pursuing reimbursement to the council for every expense we have undertaken. We are actively engaging with the owners about their plans for rebuilding.”
Demolishing the damaged section of the listed hotel took four months because of the need to preserve or record what was left – and partly because of weather and site logistics.
Work did not start in earnest for several days after the fire while work was done to create 3D scans of the hotel and log heritage features, in consultation with Historic England.
Once work started, demolition crews had to take each piece of the hotel’s upper floors down individually for safety reasons.
Workers in cages lifted by cherry pickers used hand tools to dismantle the walls.
Work was complicated because the heavy machinery could not get close to the hotel because of fears the pavement could collapse into its basement below, which stretches into Pool Valley.
East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service found that the blaze was accidental and that a smouldering cigarette was probably the cause.