Plans to refurbish and rebuild the remaining part of the Royal Albion hotel have been submitted.
Britannia Hotels says it wants to preserve the Grade II* listed building’s heritage while providing quality guestrooms.
It says the refurbishment of the eastern part of the site is necessary to finance a new hotel on the western half of the site.
That was previously home to the Grade II listed Lion Mansions Hotel, which was destroyed by fire in 2023 and has since been demolished.
A previous bid to get retrospective permission to demolish it was denied as no plans had been submitted for its replacement.
The application also seeks permission to knock down the unlisted central section of the building – known as Clive House.
The new hotel – which it says would have a “contemporary and contextual design appropriate to its prominent seafront location” – would replace both Lion Mansions Hotel and Clive House. No plans for that have yet been submitted.
And it seeks permission to rework the interior and add an additional new fire fighting core, to meet modern fire safety standards.
It also wants to provide a ramped entrance, and to build new plant areas.
The ground floor layout would be largely unchanged, and historic guestrooms in the front range of the floors above would be restored.
The layout in the west of the building would be changed to offer more standardised rooms with ensuites.
The building’s frontage would be restored and also largely unchanged – although new doorway openings to the roof terrace would be put in and a new masonry balcony around it.
The application, written by Lewis and Co Planning, says: “The proposed conversion will bring the 101 rooms at the site back into use,
alongside the renovation of the circulation spaces, and the creation of a public access bar/terrace area.
“The proposal retains the majority of the historic layout, with the key internal physical intervention being the new fire-fighting stair and lift core. This will satisfy modern building regulations and establish safe escape distances for guests.”
It adds: “The western parcel is subject to live pre-application advice discussion with the Local Authority, Historic England, and the South East Design Review Panel. This is alongside the applicants team of consultants and specialists.
“The design at hand is mindful of the development potential of the adjacent plot.
“This proposed seeks to implement appropriate weatherproofing along the exposed façade, but introduces features to allow for future integration and shared services for the prospective hotel building.
“The demolition of the unlisted Clive House stabilises the existing structural fabric of the hotel, and allows the main hotel to be brought back into use by creating the clearance for a dedicated fire escape route.
“The facilitation of the main hotel being brought back into use also finances the future construction of the Western parcel building.”
B&H news – can you find out whether or not Britannia has fully paid off their debt to the Council yet and if they are now paying suppliers of e.g. the fencing directly?
If the eastern part is necessary to finance the western side, does that mean that they were under-insured? Or has Britannia pocketed a substantial amount of the payout?
No, it means the original section that burnt down wouldn’t be economically viable if rebuilt. What is this – economics 101 today?
Just knock the whole thing down and open up the steine to the seafront
That would be my preference too.
It needs to match what was lost in a Grade II listed building.
No, it needs to be economically viable and of architectural merit. If it was built back to the original, it wouldnt work financially, so what would you rather have, a bombsite or a renovated section alongside a nice new extension worthy of the seafront.