One of the very last pieces of the New England Quarter Master Plan, Block J, is at time of writing (April 2015) starting to see some action at long last.
Since the very first day of development back in 2001, this area of the site was nothing more than a cleared patch of waste ground given over to overflow parking for the nearby Trafalgar Place offices.
Thanks to a combination of government regeneration cash and private sector funding by Roquebrook, the site is now to be redeveloped into a 94-bedroom four-star hotel, which is to be operated by the Indigo
brand and 28,000 square feet of office space. The hotel will employ 100
people and 200 people will be employed in the offices.
The following extract of text shows how the news was presented in The Evening Argus Newspaper,
"More than 300 jobs are to be created in a £5.5 million hotel and office deal in the heart of Brighton. Government cash holds the key to the transformation of Block J, the last piece of the city’s New England Quarter to be developed. Coast to Capital, the Local Enterprise Partnership for West Sussex, Croydon, Brighton and Hove, Lewes and the Gatwick Diamond, has backed the plan to develop the derelict land near Brighton Station.
Brighton and Hove City Council approved £20 million development plans drawn up by property developer Square Bay for the site in the autumn. They include a 94-bedroom four-star hotel, which is to be operated by the Indigo brand, and 28,000 square feet of office space. The hotel will employ 100 people and 200 people will be employed in the offices.
Block J was part of the city’s railway goods yard until the 1970s. It is the last piece of the New England Quarter Masterplan which was started in 2001 when the area was divided into 15 blocks for regeneration. This is the first investment that has used money from the Government’s Growing Places Fund. Coast to Capital has £23 million of Government funding and expects to announce further loans to businesses soon."
The original artical can be seen on the Argus Website here
LEFT: This lovely leafy view shows the link way through to Brighton Station from Fleet Street, with SuperB on the right and what will one day become the Indigo Hotel Development (detailed in this chapter) on the left.
Those of you with very keen eyesight will be able to just about make out the staircase and lift up to the Station Drop-off Point, dead centre of the photo, between the trees.
BELOW: This series of photos shows a later preview of the development. The eagle-eyed among you will notice that the frontage of the hotel differs a great deal from the original drawing seen above.
The last 2 of the series show a CAD model of the steel and concrete framework for the hotel.
I have recently (Jan. 2016) been surprised that the end of the site nearest the station had not been built up using reinforced concrete. The CAD view and the image to the left of it (the view seen from the station side) may give a few hints as to why this is. Currently, this end of the site is occupied principally by a fairly huge tower crane, but in the last few weeks, a lot of steelwork has arrived on site.
As the rear of the block (the station side) appears to be very different in appearance to the other side, I guessed that this part of the building would be of girder construction. The CAD image confirms this.
Images owned by The Hemsley Orrel Partnership group / constructure.com.
ABOVE: This interesting preview of the view from the south shows (from LEFT to RIGHT) Mocatta House, Indigo Hotel, SuperB and Citypoint as they will all appear once the development work is all completed. It will have taken 16 years from start to finish, for the entire site to be totally finished.
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Prior to Redevelopment of the site:
1932.
ABOVE: This photo shows the site of The Coal Yard in around 1932, with the orange frame showing the approximate location of The Indigo Hotel and SuperB, as they would be in the present day. Also worth noting are the buildings immediately next to the station (to the left), which is the site of Mocatta House in the present day. The diagonal wall of the building just above the orange frame would be The Cycle Hub in the present day.
ABOVE: This map shows the area of The Coal Yard as it appeared in roughly 1932, with the approximate location of The Indigo Hotel inside the orange frame. The Citypoint Development and Sainsburys stand where the Coal Office and pens are on the map, The Cycle Hub is on the site of the "Motor Vehicle Maintenance Depot" and SuperB would stand just above the orange frame, pretty much up to the area surrounding the "Travelling Crane".
2000 / 2001, immediately prior to redevelopment.
ABOVE: This map shows the area around The Coal Yard and Cheapside, immediately prior to the wholesale redevelopment of the site in around 2000. The area of The Indigo Hotel Development is shown approximately, inside the orange frame.
This map is owned by the Urbed website and appears here for illustration purposes only.
LEFT: Dating back to the days of Harvest Forestry, this picture would have been taken from on the front steps outside what is London Road Sainsburys in the present day, looking towards Subway!
This area was originally the Coal Yard and at the time of writing this (January 2016), SuperB stands where the "Aroe" and "Exist" tags are, with the Indigo Hotel development running left to right, dead on where the silver van is on the right and the back of the blue van is parked on the right.
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ABOVE: Whilst this photo shows SuperB under construction and NOT The Indigo Hotel, it illustrates the site that will become the hotel in the foreground, within the confines of the hoardings.
20th March 2015
20th April 2015
5th May 2015
16th May 2015
28th May 2015
