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.
Why waste money on a old hotel them why not have a nice big bus station for the city of Brighton and have it close off noth street to all buses them os people have to walk up to Churchill Square then make Brighton and hove a buses free town
That’s great idea Andrew ‘make Brighton & Hove a bus free town’ making more people use their cars to get around!
It’s typical of the Boomerati to demand other people’s money is spent on things they want, isn’t it?
Just knock it down and replace it with a modern centrepiece for the seafront. Enough of this pandering to NIMBYs, heritage groups, and local troublemakers clogging up the planning processes and costing councils time and money they don’t have.
Normal working people couldn’t care less what the burned down hotel used to look like, it’s been a year and should be demolished and ready to build on by now.
Open the area up as a public space with secure cycle storage and an attendant, it’s great having all these cycle lanes but when kids with rechargeable angle grinders are stealing bikes as their day job, it’s putting off a lot of people in surrounding areas cycling to Brighton for a day out.
Or build social housing so struggling nurses and NHS workers have an option which doesn’t require them to move out of the city.
Do something which benefits the city, quickly.
Really
Yes agree Pool.Valley coach station is a disgrace no toilets no.cafe or shelter dimly lit at night even the coaches don’t stop there after midnight so spend money on that instead of stupid hotel and Victoria gardens etc
Maybe they just don’t cater mainly to greysters who want a 35p coffee, to need constant toilet access, as well as heat and light the facility 24 hours a day.
None of that is needed for a coach station, it’s not a motorway services or place for an afternoon out. Go burden Hove instead.
They can’t evem recoup the money on the i360, let alone this
Yes, why bother about disabled and elderly people who need public transport…..
As people can walk and enjoy North Street and be better then waste money
Who is going to say in this hotel again after a fire then it will never be the same again like it was you know
Rumour is that Britannia Hotels has no intention currently to rebuild the hotel, (complicated mainly by protracted and numerous insurabce claims). The sorry state it is in will be around way beyond the completion of VG3 and for many years I feel.
Compulsory purchase the site for the money owned for the demolition then put up a block of council flats on the site
oh lovely idea! knock down the rest of a perfectly good and characterful listed building. By all means turn this dismally failed hotel into apartments and affordable housing for locals but no need to knock it down- that’s what caused all the eyesore tower blocks in Brighton in the 60s and 70s. The owner should lose the hotel and others in his portfolio that have also mysteriously had fires!
Boomer, please.
We get it, we know you know the word ‘boomer’.
demolish and build statement building 12 storeys gold glass front hotel build across the road and join with Grosvenor casino on top swimming pool and restaurant and name it the royal Brighton hotel and casino don’t keep rebuilding the past build for the future
Has Britannia gone Bust, they are the Owners of Pointins-Rye way that closed suddenly a Couple of Years ago.
How long before we issue a compulsory purchase order and use if for something communal ?
Another example of ruining a once lovely town.
It’s a city, dear boomer.
You need to calm down, don’t have a Stroke….
I would have thought a major hotel chain would snap it up and be willing to pay the council the demolition costs.
Either there was or wasn’t an insurance policy in force. If there was it covers the cost of demolition and rebuilding like for like. So what is going on?
Repossess it from Britannia hotels in lieu of unpaid bills. Full restoration and either run it properly or turn it into serviced apartments, of which this city has an under-supply.
No payments for i360 and also no funding from the owners to replace this burnt out shell. We need better managements of these situations – take the to court and make them pay up.
Can we get a breakdown on the 1.5 million it cost to knock some walls down please, I understand that crane hire can be expensive and definitely probably the most expensive part of the demolition but it would be interesting to see the breakdown, is that possible Brighton and hove council?.
Knock the rest of it down, develop the land and improve the city centre. While you are at it knock down the Brighton Centre and Hove Town Hall. The Royal Albion Hotel was a hell hole for staff and visitors, if you every had the misfortune to stay there then you know what I am talking about. Demolish it.
Are the people of Brighton and Hove and sounding good to pay the have a hell hole hotel then again
It’s have Halifax bank on the site
Good luck getting the 1.5 mil back from Brittania,
It wouldn’t surprise me if they just change their name and go bust with it. They don’t have a good reputation as a hotel anyway. Only for housing immigrants.
The council took over the demolition now it has to claim money from the insurers , the council left the main road closed for most of the tourist season even the pier lost millions. The building could have been made safe near to the road rapidly. For weeks the road was just used for security sitting without even hard hats on. So this is a problem created by the council. In fact local business should go for compensation for lost customers due to the council keeping the main road closed for so long. They could have at least got one side of the road open within a week. Work stopped daily by 4pm, no work was done at weekends. One week working around the clock using all daylight hours would have made the area safe.
Agree the bus station needs enlargement for City of Brighton. The remainder of the Royal Albion should be preserved as a hotel for visitors. Maybe Brighton & Hove Albion football team would sponsor it?