Restore the Stanmer Palm House.

The Palm House

Since 2019 Plumpton Agricultural College and BHCC with partners have been working to restore  Stanmer's Victorian walled garden, build a new Horticultural Centre of Excellence and open as 'One Garden Brighton' which will be a destination garden for the community. After laying abandoned for years the work is now complete and the garden is open to the public for the first time in its history.

The Palm House, near the gates of One Garden Brighton, is one of only three remaining of its kind in England. They were built in the 1950s for local councils and were originally heated. The Walled Garden during this time was a nursery for Brighton & Hove City Council and a space to grow plants for the city parks. 

The Palm House has not been a part of the original restoration project and the ambition is to now restore it and open it for the public to enjoy. This will involve refitting the heating system and reglazing the glass so that it can house exotic plants. Plans include adding a vaulted walkway with viewing platforms and an educational experience showcasing a wide variety of plant species. A mini Kew on our doorstep in fact.

To help get this project underway One Garden Brighton has opened a crowdfunder with a target of £500,000. 

To contribute go to 'Palm House Restoration'. 

Follow "One Garden Brighton' on facebook.

Hippodrome hope

Corroded ironwork

Planning applications BH2021/01079 & /01080 warrant a glimmer of hope for the Hippodrome's survival.  Water has been penetrating the roof for some time and threatening Matcham's intricate plaster work inside. The work called for involves removing the sliding cupola and its supporting ironwork. This ironwork penetrates the roof and is a source of water leakage. Duct work is also causing leakage and will be removed together with the gang walk encircling the roof and its access steps. This will allow a new roof to be constructed over all. The new roof willl be supported on the perimeter columns and create a space from which access  can be had to the old roof and, through access points made in it, to the interior plasterwork.

Section viewed from Middle Street showing proposed new roof structure.

External appearance viewed from the west.

1. Retractable octagonal cupola

2. New roof covered in grey fibreglass material.

4.Vertical faces covered in grey fibreglass material

Madeira Terraces restoration - the extra funding

Progress at All Saints, Patcham.

 

Through the scaffolding it is already possible to get some idea of how All Saints will look stripped of its modern drab rendering. The rough flint walling is being flush pointed, and the brick quoins repaired. 

Old Patcham, which was a prosperous farming village when Brighthelmstone was still a poor fishing hamlet will soon be able to view its parish church in something like the state its medieval builders left it. 

Previous post: All Saints Patcham to get a face-lift.

The East Street kiosk - update

The victorian Shelter Hall kiosk which was restored last year and rebuilt at the bottom of East Street has now been given a final and important decorative touch with the reinstatement  of the cast iron frieze below the guttering. Much of it must have needed recasting but fears that finances had run out were evidently unfounded.

See previous post for more photos:-
The East Street kiosk.

Madeira Terraces turned down for Heritage Lottery Grant

The application for £5M funding, the maximum allowed,  submitted in March 2018 met the Heritage Lottery Fund's criteria but the Board of Trustees had to take decisions on more projects than the available budget would allow.

The council will now be talking urgently with Heritage Lottery Fund about a resubmission of the bid in August.

Decision makers noted the great heritage value of Madeira Terrace, and recognised the project’s considerable potential to support the wider regeneration of the area and bring economic benefit.  The grant would have allowed for the complete restoration of the first 60 of the 151 Madeira Terrace arches.  While this remains under discussion, the council will be moving ahead with the first three arches which were crowd funded in a successful city-backed campaign in 2017.

Griff Rhys Jones, President of the Victorian Society, who supported the council’s bid, said:  “It feels like a setback but these things take time.   This is a stage on the way and a good one.  We must not think it’s over.  It needs even more support.  We recognise there is more competition than ever out there and funds are dwindling. Lots of very successful and important conservation projects have not got there first time but they happened.  And few are more important than this.”

Community campaigner and raffle organiser Jax Atkins added: “It’s disappointing that HLF haven’t chosen to help with the terraces yet but we’re not giving up. There is such strong feeling in the community and so many people are determined to get the project underway.  We will not be waiting around.

“Our midsummer raffle on Saturday raised £9,000 and I’d like to thank everyone who bought tickets and donated prizes, we had over 800 in the end!  Every penny we raise sends a clear message to the council and to funding bodies that the people of Brighton are serious about saving Madeira Terrace so we can once again be proud of our beautiful heritage and the shop window of our city.”

Next steps for the Madeira Terrace project include appointing a design team and obtaining planning and listed building consent.  Work on the first three arches is expected to start towards the end of the year.

There are numerous ways to get involved:

• By making a donation on line. 
• By joining volunteers at the monthly community clean-ups – contact Jax Atkins. Madeira Terraces & Black Rock.
• Buying a specially brewed Mabiera beer.  Local brewery, Brighton Bier, is donating 25% of its profits from the sale of Mabiera to the restoration fund.

If you have fundraising ideas, please contact us: Madeira.Terrace@brighton-hove.gov.uk

Save Madeira Terrace

Get involved with the Save Madeira Terrace campaign to help restore Brighton's iconic arches.




Look out for our posters and grab a raffle ticket or come along and help with the regular clean up. Find out more at: www.visitbrighton.com/save-madeira-terrace.

Thanks to everyone who has already supported the campaign.

Appeal from Saltdean Lido CIC.

March 2017

Saltdean Lido is one of the finest remaining examples of modernist lidos in the UK.  The pool has been saved by local residents who  set up a Community Interest Company (CIC) and successfully secured a 60-year lease from Brighton & Hove City Council (the freeholders) to operate the lido site. 

After the restored pools re-opened in June 2017 and were used by over 35,000 visitors last year the Lido picked up two Brighton & Hove Business Awards - Best New Kid on the Block & Best Hospitality Leisure & Tourism.

The next phase is the renovation of the building.  Brighton & Hove Council has pledged £700,000 and the CIC is working with the Heritage Lottery Fund (National Lottery) to secure £4.2 million. 

Now, to demonstrate to the HLF that there is local and national support for the project, a crowd-funding scheme has been launched. The aim is to raise £100,000 before the end of May which is when the HLF bid is assessed. This money will be used to rebuild the historic café in the main building. The whole restoration project will cost £6.8 million.