The council has submitted its formal planning application to build a new £65 million King Alfred Leisure Centre on the western end of the current site.
The swimming pool and leisure centre will be built on the site of the current car park and over the old bowling alley, latterly used for laser zone games.
Subject to planning permission – to be decided by Brighton and Hove City Council’s Planning Committee – work could start by the end of the year and take until late 2028 to complete.
Preparatory work has already started at the site which, the council said, did not require planning permission.
The displacement car park and a site yard would occupy the first of the lawns west of Hove Street while the current King Alfred Leisure Centre would be replaced with hundreds of high-rise flats.
Today (Monday 9 March), the council said: “The final plans for a new sports and leisure facility to be built on the site of the existing and ageing King Alfred Leisure Centre have been revealed.
“Shaped by feedback from earlier community engagement and further technical work, the proposals bring together a complete and deliverable scheme designed to meet the needs of residents and fit within the scope of the project.
“The new facility would provide a modern, accessible and sustainable leisure destination, with spaces for sports, leisure and social and wellbeing activities.
“Designed to make the most of its seafront location, the building would offer sea views from the pools, gym and café, alongside landscaping to better connect the site with the surrounding area.
“The plans include a significantly larger fitness suite, a leisure water area, a family entertainment zone, improved accessibility throughout and an underground car park.
“Residents, businesses and community groups are encouraged to view the planning application and share their comments as part of the formal planning process. All feedback submitted through the planning system will be considered before any decision is made.”
Labour councillor Alan Robins, the council’s cabinet member for sports, recreation and libraries, said: “These final designs reflect the feedback we’ve heard from residents and the progress we’ve made in developing a scheme that is deliverable, sustainable and right for this seafront site.
“With the project team now firmly established and the plans worked through in detail, we have a clear and credible route to delivering a new leisure centre while keeping the existing facility open until the replacement is ready.
“I think this is an exciting development for the city and will bring much needed new facilities for residents.
“The King Alfred has played an important role in the city for many years and I’d encourage anyone with an interest to comment on the planning application.”
The council is working with Alliance Leisure and the firm’s development director Tom Fairey said: “We are delighted that this hugely significant project has now taken another large step towards being delivered for Brighton and Hove.
“We are looking forward to continuing at pace through the final stage of pre-construction and working with our expert partners to deliver this exciting new centre that meets the needs of the community for many years to come.”
To see the proposals and comment, click here and search for BH2026/00490.
Ugly box design which will need replacing in 30 years. It will be overshadowed by a high rise development and significantly smaller than current footprint. There appears to be no local bus provision and more cafes than sports areas. Welcome to the land of no imagination and asset-stripping of a major part of the land.
I see the floor to ceiling glass windows have disappeared between these plans and the last. Not the sea views promised then. This looks a lot more concrete-like than the previous version. I think they are struggling.
As long as there is Car park facilities.
I like the evolution of the designs, there is now more articulation and material character integrated. I would have loved something more iconic and special, but I also appreciate this development has a lot of stakeholders to satisfy. As a regular user of the pool at KA over the past 25 years I’ve very excited to have a centre that is more up to date and has a stronger relationship with the beautiful setting on the sea.
Are we the only costal town without a bus service along the seafront.
I live in Hangleton and have walking difficulties, and therefore I am not able to get to The i 360 or the pier, due to the distance involved in getting there by bus.
700 goes along there
Looks good to me, one of the pictures shows what looks like new seafront railings, I guess that’s developers licence. Would be nice though.
Why isn’t the pool 50m?
Because it’s too expensive and not really needed for leisure swimmers.
The original King Alfred was built with a rooftop restaurant and a 480-space underground car park. The replacement is putting air con and other plant machinery on the roof to spoil the view of the high end blocks planned all around and an undercroft car park for only 120 cars. The two are not the same. Looking beyond the artist’s impressions, this is just the start of the fudgery. If more people knew how to read plans this design would be going straight back to the drawing board.
The original was called ‘Hove Marina” and only renamed after the war.
Where is the ‘world beating leisure centre’ Councillor Robins promised? This doens’t even match the offer of Crawley’s K2. Humdrum for such a prime position and the KALC lettering is what you’d expect from a foundation level architecture student.
This is not a leisure centre. This is a token gesture in concrete. Offering a lot less than the original King Alfred which was built as the largest leisure centre in east Sussex and to withstand the elements. This will be looking old and tired within 5 years. It is just as well they are planning to smother it in tower block. RIP HOve.
Will there still be a sports hall with badminton, short tennis, basketball ball etc markings on the floor. An awful lot of old people play short tennis and table tennis there and badminton is played by all ages.
Looks like it, according to the floor plan! https://planningapps.brighton-hove.gov.uk/online-applications/files/0AC4BBD62E0652E38180DB71A3429CC0/pdf/BH2026_00490-PROPOSED_LEVEL_01_-_FLOOR_PLAN-20800167.pdf
Just the one. The existing King Alfred has two sports halls. They also say they are going to use the new Sports hall for parties, when that is what the Ballroom is for.
We all recognise that if these plans are approved, they will be out of date before completion. This will become the latest white elephant in the councils pantheon without a radical redesign.
Concrete box containing zero fun and what amounts to less than that’s there already , all for the price of 65 million plus … other counties have built double for less , simply not good enough its just to shoe horn in the flats they want to build
Where’s the imagination B&H is famous for…let the uni design it rather than corperate box makers using a software formula.
Also why not appreciate you’re on the sea front…rooftop garden…venue, observatory…some imagination
Utilise the seafront…youth sailing club…incorporate the boxing club anything but a bigger box…
Looks amazing will be great asset to people of B&H looking forward to the works starting
we should have the best leisure centre in sussex, not this rubbish.
better than the k2
burgess hill has a far better facility than whats proposed
this facility is proposed for an urban population 10 times bigger than b hill
totally unfit for purpose