A new building’s green rating was meant to be gold standard but will fall “disappointingly” short because of red tape.
The setback was blamed on the original developer’s failure to file the correct paperwork at the right time which a councillor said was “extremely silly”.
Now another developer, Blue Goldstone, has taken over the Hove site – the former KAP car showroom in Newtown Road – and is looking to put things right.
The whole episode drew a comparison with The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and its officious race of space bureaucrats, the Vogons.
The drama played out in the chamber of Hove Town Hall where councillors showed more grace, patience and humour than Vogons as Brighton and Hove City Council’s Planning Committee worked out what to do.
It all started when plans were submitted to build flats and offices on the old KAP Peugeot site, with the council requiring the scheme to have an “excellent” BREEAM rating for the offices.
The committee was told that KAP and the original developer, Tudor Holdings, had not recorded the required early designs for BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Methodology) credits.
This meant that the scheme could not secure enough credits for an “excellent” rating for the office space – so the current developer had applied for permission to amend the planning condition.
Blue Goldstone, owned by Andrew Newton, 65, of Laughton, near Ringmer, asked the council to accept a construction rating of “very good” instead.
The BREEAM rating covers aspects such as sustainability, energy use and carbon emissions, water consumption, air quality and light.
Planning permission for the £60 million scheme was granted in April 2020 and work is well under way on building three blocks containing 148 flats as well as commercial premises.
When the Planning Committee met yesterday (Wednesday 1 October), Labour councillor Tobias Sheard likened the situation to a farcical scene in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
Councillor Sheard said: “I’ve got two things in my mind. One is to sit there and call the old developers extremely silly for not getting the paperwork in.
“On the other hand, part of me is sat here thinking about the Vogons, from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. They’ve done all the hard work. They’ve just forgotten to submit the paperwork.
“It is extremely disappointing … an extreme demonstration of silliness on behalf of the development team.
“It’s clear to see the standards of excellence we were setting out are still going to be achieved even if we don’t have the certificate for the paperwork.”
Conservative councillor Carol Theobald said: “The council’s net zero team have raised no objection. Very good is very good but, obviously, excellent would have been better.
“It’s disappointing – but still very good.”
