Developers that wish to build on sensitive sites tend to resort to the same tactics and, in the case of Saltdean Lido, the leaseholder’s behaviour is textbook. Running properties into the ground under the radar is a trick that is employed regularly… Read more →
Tonnes, grams and metres are unheard of at a hidden attraction in the north-west corner of Hove’s largest park. The Hove Park Railway is owned by the Brighton & Hove Society of Miniature Locomotive Engineers. This most British of organisations was formed… Read more →
When I bumped into my friend Nigel Robinson at the Smart House on Ditchling Road during last year’s Eco Open Houses, I had no idea that many of the features that were being showcased during the event would turn up in his… Read more →
Although the town was not of strategic importance during the Second World War, Brighton was an ideal spot for German planes to drop their unused bombs. Precautions against air-raids were certainly made. Blackouts were enforced at night, shelters were dug, and children… Read more →
Of the houses of Downing Street, Churchill said: “Shaky and lightly built by the profiteering contractor whose name they bear”. And he was right as the original houses were not built to last. But lasted they have. No. 10 is of course… Read more →
I wonder if anybody thought of Orwell’s predictions when philistines mercilessly destroyed the Union Congregational Church on Brighton’s Queen Square in 1984. The church was replaced with an octagon-themed dystopian office block, Queen Square House. Rows of trees have been swapped for… Read more →
It is inevitably the job of an amenity society to react to events as they unfold. After all, the activities of such groups revolve around the planning system, which is more often that not developer-led. When Hove Civic Society was created in… Read more →
“Reminiscent of cathedrals” said Pevsner of Hove’s most dramatic place of worship. The most obvious buildings though, like All Saints Church on The Drive in Hove, have been written about so many times already. To be different, it is sometimes necessary to… Read more →
Bill Dunster is perhaps best known as the architect behind Beddington Zero Energy Development – “BedZED” – in Hackbridge that was completed in 2002. As much as I was pleased to escape my home town of Croydon in 1998, I certainly would… Read more →
“I think the Pepper Pot should be, like, a giant helter-skelter… because it’s kind of that shape.” Following the young girl’s wish, the Pepper Pot transformed into a giant slide. Seconds later, it became a café, a castle and then a lighthouse…. Read more →
