Good news regarding the marina tower today!
Planning officers have recommended that the city council approve the scheme on November 11th! :cheers:

http://www.brightonmarinafuture.co.uk/images/future1.jpg
http://www.brightonmarinafuture.co.uk/images/landmark3.jpg
http://www.brightonmarinafuture.co.uk/images/future2.jpg

£265m tower a step closer
by Tom Pugh

A developer's vision for a 420ft skyscraper offering spectacular views across the Sussex coastline is a major step closer to becoming reality.

The tower, dubbed the Roaring Forties, has been recommended for approval by city council planning officers.

This is the first test of critical opinion on the 40-storey building, planned as the centrepiece of the £265 million redevelopment of Brighton Marina.

It will be interpreted as a ringing endorsement of the scheme and is based on an objective assessment of the viability of the project, uncoloured by political bias.

The needle-like tower would be the tallest building in Sussex and would feature a public viewing gallery on the top floor with stunning views of the coast.

Andrew Goodall, boss of Brunswick Developments, which submitted the planning application, said: "This scheme has been designed by world-class architects and will be absolutely amazing.

"It is going to have a major positive impact not only on Brighton Marina but on the city as a whole. It will strengthen the link between the marina and the rest of the city and there's no doubt Brighton and Hove will be a better place to be once it is completed.

"We want to make Brighton and Hove proud of the marina and this development will go further to achieving that."

Proposals for ten smaller buildings at the tower's base were also recommended for approval by planning officials yesterday.

The scheme would provide 988 new apartments. Private flats would cost between £200,000 and £2 million but 395 of the flats are earmarked for low-cost homes.

Mr Goodall hopes construction will begin early next year and be completed by 2012.

The first occupiers would move in at the end of 2007.

The 11 residential buildings would sit next to the West Quay on a platform over the sea and a quarter of a mile from the cliff. The council's planning committee will decide if it wants to ratify its officials' recommendation to approve the development on November 11.

Mr Goodall said: "It will curve in and out by using different size floor plates, and will almost have a Coca-Cola bottle shape to it. It will have balconies down the centre, making it look, from a distance, like two curving, slender towers."

Architects Wilkinson Eyre, responsible for the spectacular Gateshead Millennium Bridge. which spans the Tyne, designed the development.

A swing bridge would allow people to walk or cycle all the way around the marina for the first time, while a smaller bridge across Black Rock beach would give easier access.

There would also be a new walkway linking the marina to the Palace Pier and space for additional restaurants and bars in West Quay.

Mr Goodall said: "Our scheme will make the marina part of the city."

The development would be environmentally friendly with street lighting powered by the sun.

One criticism of the scheme has been that the proposed 176 extra parking spaces will not be enough.

Mr Goodall said he was confident the 1,045 cycle racks and a car club with up to 50 vehicles would provide acceptable alternatives to the car.

Brunswick would also put £1 million into the proposed rapid transport system of bendy buses.

Campaigners have criticised the scheme as an overdevelopment. They have mounted a legal challenge on the basis that the Brighton Marina Act 1968 states nothing can be built taller than the height of the cliff.

There is a section which allows the city council to vary the Act's terms. But campaigners have also uncovered transcripts of parliamentary debates suggesting the clause was only ever intended to allow the council to allow the construction of basic features such as lamp-posts.

However, Mr Goodall said the act was not a planning consideration.

Campaigners are planning to hold a demonstration at the marina during a visit by councillors at 2pm today.

Council officers suggested a number of caveats should be inserted into any planning permission. These included:

More than £1.2 million to be put towards sustainable transport
Establishment of a car club and an electric buggy shuttle service for
disabled visitors Provision of a new bus/taxi waiting room and enhancement of pedestrian and cyclist routes
£875,000 to be allocated for outdoor sports and recreation l £330,000 to enhance educational facilities in the city
The council report can be seen on www.brighton-hove.gov.uk.

The planning committee meeting, which is open to the public, will take place at Hove Town Hall on November 11 at 2pm.

wow, lovely sensual form

yeah, i picked this up earlier, am writing something on it now. got big renders already on my site. anyway, i love this tower, this sort of design is the resign why i like highrises, its graceful and elegant. i particularly like the colour scheme of it and the gently undulating faces. best of all the developer goes for bicycles over more parking spaces even when criticised about it

Excellent! The right design in the right location that really adds something to Brighton and yet will make money too. A developer favouring cyclists????? Wierd. Fingers crossed.

you have to talk to the developer to realise what a great guy he is. its nice to actually have someone who is not only friendly, open and really honestly believes in what they are doing (hes not just out to make a quick buck though of course it will make him rich) but who has some progressive ideas on just where new developments should go. this is one of them.
more on my site anyway - http://www.skyscrapernews.com/news.php?ref=475
http://www.skyscrapernews.com/images/pics/475BrightonMarinaRecommendedForApproval_pic1.jpg

It looks fabulous from the sea, but has its back to the town. I'd prefer it rotated to face West.
It seems like it is almost in the sea. Construction will be difficult, I'd imagine.

Why cant we got more high rise resi's like this in London :(

Hopefully some London developer willbe impressed with Wilkins Eyres designs& get them to do something.

Nice to see Brighton council apporing this & the developer actually agreeing for once. Should really give the marina a kick start as I cant say im that impressed with it at the moment.

There will be a new bridge (which will open when there is a boat coming in/out) linking the development to the eastern breakwater which means people will be able to walk around the outermost part of the marina - this will be fantastic, can't wait!

Sexy design, very nice

They'll have a cracking view of the Gay Nudist Beach too!

Why cant we got more high rise resi's like this in London :(

Hopefully some London developer willbe impressed with Wilkins Eyres designs& get them to do something.

Someone needs to give this bloke Ken's phone number. Gothic? Mr. Livingstone would trample a hoard of swing voters to get a developer like this operating in London. Hang on doesn't Ken have a second home in Brighton anyway?

Like it :okay:

Like it too :okay: :okay:

fabulous design, way better than any resi tower proposed or approved in London.

Go Brighton :cheers:

Amazing tower, and in Brighton!

Excellent... it sort of reminds me of the turning torso, obviously this one is static!

Why cant we got more high rise resi's like this in London :(

Hopefully some London developer willbe impressed with Wilkins Eyres designs& get them to do something.


Couldn't agree more. ;)

Superb design, it seems suited for being beside the sea. :cheers:

youre biased eddied. seriously though, ive been in touch with the developer about this for a while now, starting last summer infact. do you think you could hook me up with someoen who is working on this at where you are?

The perfect Waterfront tower.. I absolutely adore this design.. I think Blackpool or Liverpool should be aiming for a like-minded design for their waterfronts.. Really hope this gets built, it will no doubt add so much more character to a City by the Sea.

probably my fave tower along with lbt and difa

Great news, especially after the difficulty other highrises have had getting through the planning system in Brighton.

what happened to the butt ugly proposal for this site?

what happened to the butt ugly proposal for this site?

Are you getting muddled up with the Beetham tower next to the station? This design has always been the same as far as I remember. Hope it goes ahead, it'll make the marina a place worth visiting.

great design

Fingers crossed for this one.

I often book a hotel in the Brighton Marinas when I go there.

Nevermind about SS or the waves crashing on the beach that i can hear .
check out 'manchester in the rain' thread its hilarious.
I thought it was photos of the city but the last pages are wild.And no i aint stoned

I often book a hotel in the Brighton Marinas when I go there.

Is that the Seattle? Good hotel, I've held business meetings there a few times and the clients who stay over rate it highly (I live here so I can't really justify it to the boss!)

I think it's the Seattle yeah. The interior is made to look like it may be on a cruise ship. It's cool. Has some nice bars.

There's a clip about the tower on the Brighton section of ITV Local. You can check it out here (http://player.narrowstep.tv/?player=itv_brighton), although you'll probably have to click up and down the schedule to find it. It's on the "News & Sport" channel; just hunt for "Skyscraper for Brighton Marina".

As per usual, for maximum viewer shock value, the presenter referrers to it by everyone's favourite high-rise term... tower block.

Absolutely devastating news people :(
the whole development has been rejected on the grounds its out of scale with the surrounding area and will cause too much traffic blah blah the usual, i'm fucking pissed right off now, I was expecting a resounding yes especcially after their own planning inspectors said it should be approved, but those wankers on the planning committee at the council are a bunch of c*nting wankers and don't know what they are doing, it was beautiful ffs :'(

Fucking dickheads on the council. Such a promising development and they go and turn it down for stupid reasons! :bash:

:bleep: :bleep: :bash: :bash: :bash:

grrr the thing is Brighton needs these dense developments as there is nowhere else to expand, we have to go up as we are bordered between the downs and the sea, the marina was also designated as an area suitable for tall buildings, I really don't know what to say, I thought I was dreaming when I read the article saying it had been declined.

It wasn;t even narrowly rejected either it was turned down by nine votes to three.
article is here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/southern_counties/4430120.stm

But objectors, who last week handed over a petition signed by hundreds of people against the scheme, always maintained it would "overwhelm" the area.

They said it also flouted the Brighton Marina Act of 1968, which prevents buildings rising higher than the cliff top.

Bloody Nimbys were involved in the result!

I thought things were looking good for Brighton what with the king alfred plans getting the nod into the final stages of planning and with the approval of falmer stadium, this was to be the icing on the cake, and I always thought this development had the highest chance out of all of those to get approval, fucks sake FUCKS SAKE FUCKETY SHIT FUCK. sorry for swearing but this was beautiful unlike the beetham tower that was rejected earlier this year, and really would have been stunning.

I wonder what the developers will do now? :(

Yes, just heard this on Meridian Tonight - very dissapointed, as i thought this project was pretty much for the green light.

F*cking councils/nimbys!

too much traffic, it has so little traffic they got criticised.

Unfortunate news! However I doubt that this is the end of the story. If I were the developer I would be considering submitting the project without the tower at this stage, and then look to do the tower as a phase 2 project. The big issue is the 1968 act preventing buildings on the marina being higher than the cliffs, which I imagine cannot easily be altered. The absurdity of course is very distant from home owners along the cliff. The council as usual is cowed. At least the King Alfred project and the Falmer stadium received a thumbs up, but the council is still jittery with respect to high rises. It may be several years before they finally have confidence to permit high rises - a legacy of the generally low quality high rises (mostly system built council blocks) built in the 60s.

I hope you are right black cat, and that this is not the end of this project all together, as the marina really does need to be made more attractive and needs something like this to bring it to life - they didn't go far enough with just a small outlet shopping centre and hotel, it needs much more.

I'm so depressed as we came so so close to having a very beautiful tall skyscraper and it got thrown out right at the last hurdle, when I thought it was all in the bag due to the council report a week ago.

oh well, not the end of the world I guess, I just hope this does not put developers off proposing tall buildings here in the future.

My hopes are now all pinned on the Brighton centre redevelopment as the council have said they will consider a tall building there.

:badnews:

so if ths was proposed for a site above the cliffs it would get approval but because it is higher than the cliffs it got turned down- why is it so bad if its taller than the cliff- its not as if were gonna see lots of towns being built below the cliffs- just this one graceful tower that would enhance Brighton & esp the marina which is a biot of a concrete bunker in my opinion at the mo.

Usual stupid idiots- if the design is not very tall it can be as disgusting & bland as you like as no one will complain but if theres a little bit of height nimbys get rabid around the mouth - jesus these people a few centuries ago would've beenin the flat earth society.

How exactely would this proposal spoil the area?!!?? :(

When the marina project was proposed in hte 60s, there was great concern about the impact of development on the Black Rock cliffs, and residents along the sea front pushed for hight limits, hence the act which was one of the measures taken to permit the marina to be built. Note also that another condition was maintaining the undercliff walk unchanged, which was done. (The development originally was to continue to the cliff face). What is unfortunate is that the proposed tower would serve as an iconic beacon for the marina, is set well away from the cliffs and residents, and if there was just one, in my opinion at least, it would enhance the city, waterfront, etc. Perhaps if the tower had some more community/tourism benefit (a viewing level, community/tourism facilities at the base (eg. public indoor/outdoor pools - this location was originally proposed to be a big pool), then the city would have a good reason to support it. The developers should give some thought to this if they want community buy in - otherwise, its just a development for some rich people, and this is not something which is a social priority for the city - theres plenty of money and rich people in town already.

A pity, but nothing surprises me with B&H council. Remember, this is the same Council who approved a seashore development for the West Pier that went way above the level of the promenade (the so-called 'enabling' development - a vast scumplex that would steal beach and obliterate sea views for a quarter of a mile). It's only due to the luck of weather in trashing the pier that the town escaped that catastrophe. Developers should take that council on, they are utterly inconsistent.