The developer working on the seafront building which houses Odeon and Pryzm has asked permission to put an advertising shroud over the scaffolding for a year.
Work has been ongoing at Kingswest on Kings Road since October 2024, when its new owners Brighton Shore discovered “serious issues” with the building.
It closed for several months while work to repair the external walls took place. Since reopening in January last year, scaffolding has been up.
Now, it seems it will be in place for about another year, according to a new planning application.
The application, lodged by ad company Infinity Outdoor Limited, says the main feature of the advertising shroud would be an image of the building’s facade, but 20m x 10m adverts would be inset within this.
It would be displayed while work to implement changes to the building’s facade – including the reinstatement of windows on the south frontage – were made.
It says: “It is intended that the building façade image will be fixed for the duration of any consent, and the public information and commercial area would display printed poster images which would be likely to change at around fortnightly periods (the actual designs are not known at this stage but would provide public information and displays similar to poster displays with simple graphics and pictorial images with limited text similar to billboard displays).
“The external lighting of the advertisement inset area is a feature which can be set on a timer control if considered necessary, controllable by a condition of any consent.”
It cites recently granted planning permission for shrouds on nearby buildings, including the Royal Albion Hotel and the former Royal Bank of Scotland in Castle Square opposite the Old Steine.
It adds: “The actual date for the host scaffolding might be postponed due to this application. Therefore, it is requested that the start date for any consent be kept flexible, as a delay in the host scaffolding could reduce the already limited duration of any temporary consent granted for the shroud.”
The cover looks a lot better than ugly scaffolding, especially on the seafront