A Brighton building maintenance company is planning to turn Stanmer House and Patcham Place into flats.
KSD Group owns the leasehold to both listed mansions, using Patcham Place as offices and until last year leasing out Stanmer House as a restaurant and potential hotel.
It has now asked for pre-application advice for a change of use for Grade I listed Stanmer House, keeping a cafe and restaurant on the ground floor, and creating a new exhibition space and ten flats.
It also wants to turn Grade II listed Patcham Place’s stable block into four holiday lets.
And it proposes building ten affordable homes and eco-holiday lets at a separate site at the New Pit Depot in Lewes, which it also owns.
KSD Group’s Jason Gargan said: “We want to make sure these buildings can be enjoyed by people. We don’t want them falling back into the condition that we picked them up in.
“When we bought Patcham Place, it was completely derelict and when we took back Stanmer House last year, behind the scenes it was absolutely trashed.
“As owners of a Grade I listed property we have responsibilities for their upkeep, and have to use original materials.
“We have got great respect for those old listed buildings and we have got to look at the plans from a viability point of view.
“Stanmer House is a beautiful property but it just doesn’t work as a commercial venue. There’s been six or seven attempts to do that, and they’ve all bailed and ended up going into administration or transferring away.
“We are trying to push at an open door in terms of returning it to what it was originally intended for. That’s the only viable way forward for us to fund the two to three million pound bill to restore it.
“Before we bought it, Patcham Place had been used as a place for people to stay – a B&B, a Travelodge, a youth hostel.
“It’s a beautiful building overlooking a park. It’s in a residential area it’s the only commercial building of its size in Patcham.
“It’s not really suitable office space for a company of our size.”
The plans, submitted to the South Downs National Park, retain Stanmer House’s entrance hall, but knock down a modern kitchen extension, to be replaced by one of the new flats.
Half the cafe would double as an exhibition space for boards explaining the history of the house and surrounding park.
I hope it will all be affordable housing for people on low incomes and universal credit and not fancy flats for rich people
Don’t worry about affordable housing this is Brighton – Stanmer house will probably end up as more student housing…. Practically everywhere else east of London Road as.
Gentrification much? It’ll no doubt be overly priced. Is there any say for locals?
If you bother to read the article ‘the locals’ opinions are clearly given.
if what they did to Patcham Place is anything to go by, it will not be tasteful, it’ll be Cheap crystal chandeliers and nasty carpet over the flagstone floors again.
Patcham Place was renovated very well and only carpeted in areas to protect floorboards in accordance with guidance from a heritage consultant . I should know I laid the flooring. Very sad that there’s so many green eyed, envious people in Brighton. As a whitehawk fan I’m sure you probably know the owners of ksd also but wouldn’t say a single word to them about their lack of taste if they were stood in front of you. Sad people.
Good news and good luck
Interesting: Malling New Pit is in the National Park, and every attempt at building there so far has failed on planning grounds.
I’m thinking placing the affordable housing there is a rather cynical move by the developers, hoping to twist somebody’s arm one way or another.