Old London Road Co-op in Brighton to house 350 students

The old London Road Co-op in Brighton is to be converted into a university halls of residence with room for 351 students.

Brighton and Hove City Council Planning Committee gave planning permission for the scheme today a year after turning similar plans.

The main differences are that the new scheme will preserve the façade of the 1930s building and provide homes for fewer students.

Behind the façade the old building will be demolished and the new building will be between three and six storeys high.

It will have shops at street level although the council said that it did not know which shops might occupy the premises.

There will also be three disabled parking spaces and 150 cycle racks.

The developer Fresh Student Living and Sussex University are working together on the scheme with the university allocating students to the building.

The developer said that the halls would be mainly aimed at mature students but not exclusively.

The council has insisted on a management plan being agreed for how the building is run as a condition of planning permission.

A permanent management and security team would be on hand.

After turning down the previous planning application, the council locally “listed” the building to protect its frontage.

Planning committee chairman Councillor Christopher Hawtree said: “It’s a victory for our stance against boil-in-the-bag architecture which often sees our distinctive buildings replaced by developers serving up easy bland designs.

“I appreciate concerns about the impacts of student accommodation. But the universities bring great benefits to the city and new halls take the pressure off family houses elsewhere.

“We are also insisting that at least 20 per cent of the construction workforce will be local people which is more than might easily have been the case.”

A planning officer’s report said that good reasons for approving the plans included improvements to the area and the building’s high energy efficiency.

The scheme should also put a stop to vandalism and squatting in the existing building.

The developer will pay about £500,000 to improve local open spaces, job opportunities, transport and public art.