The Royal Alexandra site proposals

If Taylor Wimpey are given permission to demolish the abandoned hospital building this is what they would put up in its place. It is certainly more attractive than the original proposals which they displayed several years ago in the St. Mary Magdalene Hall. Perhaps from their point-of-view it is a shame they did not give the project a great deal more research and care at that time. As it was, the slab-sided barracks they proposed then, started a storm of protests and campaigning which they have yet to defuse.

I can imagine quite liking this design in another situation but TW, in proposing it as a substitute for the Victorian confection that still clings to existence on this landmark site, are faced with more than simple nostalgia for a much-loved building. As others have pointed out, its red-brick defines, with two other red-brick buildings, St. Mary Magdalene and St. Michaels, a triangular conservation area of virtually unspoilt Victorian stucco, and its replacement with a modern development would therefore mark a deplorable incursion into the architectural integrity of the area.

TW has also exhibited an alternative scheme that retains the hospital building and converts it to flats but it is remarkable that neither scheme, because of economic constraints, will be able to satisfy the Council's Planning Brief. If, in September, TW submits a planning application along the lines it has shown it will in fact be challenging the Council. If the City wants to keep the RA building it can't also have a proportion of affordable housing and a doctors' surgery. Affordable housing of course, means higher density housing, and with so many properties all over Brighton not fully occupied, one has to wonder how such a requirement can be justified in an area such as this.