UPDATED: The tower which will house the new Madeira Terrace lift is now being built on site.
Some parts of the original cast iron terrace are also being fixed to the newly restored wall, as it’s revealed all the main elements of the terrace have passed tests and are safe to be reused.
Structural engineers J T Mackley and Co dismantled 27 of the terrace’s arches last November as part of the first phase of restoring the terrace, which includes building the new lift.
In October, Mackley said some parts of the arches had not passed initial stress tests and further tests were being conducted.
Brighton and Hove City Council, which owns the terrace, said this afternoon they had now passed. In a statement, it said: “Following a first round of tests that were inconclusive, additional testing of the cast iron components was required.
“The team behind the project has now confirmed the latest data from the testing demonstrates that the original structural cast iron can be reused.
“While this testing has taken slightly longer than initially planned, the results will allow the council to confidently repair and reuse much of the century-old cast iron structure during the initial phase of restoration.”
If the parts had failed the stress tests, new cast iron elements would have had to be commissioned, which would have added about six months to the restoration project, pushing it back from the original aim to complete it in summer 2026.
Deputy council leader Jacob Taylor said: “The structure is more than 100 years old, so repairing and restoring is not without its challenges and there may be times, such as with our recent cast iron testing, where this approach takes slightly longer.
“Taking time and care to lovingly restore this beautiful and iconic structure is the right thing to do.”
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Very disappointing modern car park style lift which will stick out like a sore thumb.
It should have been made to match the original Victorian lift in a Grade II★ Listed structure if this second lift was needed now that the parking is being removed from both Madeira Drive and Marine Drive, meaning there will be less need for a second lift, particularly for disabled use.
I’m not aware of any plans to permanantly remove any parking spaces.
Yes some have been removed whilst the building works are going on but that’s not the same as a permanant change
Perhaps you can post a source to help us all out.
As for this comment
“there will be less need for a second lift, particularly for disabled use”
What a ridiculous things to say. Lifts won’t just be used by disabled people. People with prams will use them as well. And people do more than park when they are on Marine Drive. They visit the businenses there such as sea lanes, yellowwave and yes just the beach too.
It will also improve accessibility to the various levels of the restored terraces. it isnt a lift just for accessing car parking.
And given the length of the terraces more than one lift is very much needed.
I’m really excited to have this go in. The artist impressions look really nice and it’ll be great to be able to get to yellow wave, etc again without walking down to the pier.
This sounds like another cock up by the council yet again I didn’t know they were removing the parking too don’t get me on that issue (for some unknown reason they forget just how much money we give the government in car tax fuel tax etc etc)
James if you’re correct about the design of it, it will look as ugly as the Volts railway station they replaced a few years ago and put in an “industrial” looking unit!