The Holiday Inn on Brighton seafront is to get an external facelist as the final stage of a £3million revamp.
The hotel has applied for permission to cover all 17 floors of the 1960s towerblock with white render.
It has already refurbished most of the bedrooms and bathrooms which take up the first to fifth floors, and redesigned its ground floor lobby.
However, plans for a new Marco Pierre White restaurant, as suggested by the artist’s impression, are sadly not now coming to pass.
Instead, a burger and craft beer restaurant is in the pipeline.
The current planning application seeks permission to white render the frontage and balconies, with balcony dividers replaced with frosted glass dividers, plus a new ground floor canopy.
It says: “The most significant change will be to the colour of the main façade. The existing brown tiles of the building will be meshed and covered with a white render system.
“Whilst the building will still be of the same scale and bulk, the rendering of the façade will create a more attractive and sympathetic appearance.”
It adds: “Whilst the building will remain of the same height and scale, the proposal to render the main façades will not only upgrade its appearance, but will also be consistent with Sussex Heights, a rendered high rise residential tower block which also sits within the skyline of the seafront.”
Holiday Inn occupies six stories, and the remaining eleven floors are residential.
Regrettably, Sussex Heights has submitted a planning application seeking UPVC replacement windows and External Wall Insulation (big cill required to oversail and seal) which will make it look pretty loud and nasty if it goes ahead.
In addition, evidence is accruing (from including BRE) that EWI is A Very Bad Idea. Overheating in summer(EWI is a smother duvet)with need for permanent increased open ventilation, as well as internal condensation and mould in previously bone dry flats can be a consequence if applied to a less than pristine exterior with no slumped, damp cavity wall insulation).
Glad the Holiday Inn has not gone for THAT.
From the Hove Station area the way sunrise and sunset lighting plays on the Sussex Heights walls is magical – visible as it is some storeys above rooftops. Under cloud cover it merges and disappears. Up close, Sussex Heights is a dog. But from a distance….lovely.
White render (would recommend it be on the ivory side)will much improve the tired, tired Holiday Inn. Hopefully its interior is also up for change too.
Am I the only one who found the old marble tiles on the exterior of the Sussex Heights building attractive, and a good example of 1960s design? These have now been covered with nondescript white render, meaning the building has lost its unique appearance. I’m surprised it isn’t a listed structure.
A couple of weeks ago I had a break in Oxford and was impressed how the High Street was renowned as having the most diverse range of architectures mixed together. Throughput the city new buildings are being introduced that are strikingly different (esp. Westgate) but are added in a way that maintains the overall character and encourages a vibrant and bustling environment for residents, visitors and businesses.
It appears in Brighton & Hove that various self-appointed activist groups want to do the opposite in our city and instead are stopping any and all developments for fear that they will change the look of the city (as the sun sets reflect off walls!). In doing this they seem to want to stop any progress in the name of preservation.
Let’s hope the planners actually encourage an evolution of the city with the new designs that it allow a future evolution of our city. Perhaps we needed the i360 as a first step to break the architectural stagnation these activists have wanted to impose.
When will we get to see the monstrosity that is King Alfred finally flattened to generate a modern multi-functional area?
Let’s hope that we can turn the Madeira Terraces into something new and exciting for the city rather than just the useless walkway that benefits nobody.