Karis Holdings has welcomed the publication of the government’s advisory body - the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment – CABE’s overall support for the King Alfred project. Karis is very pleased that CABE has recognised the potential of the King Alfred development to be ‘a really striking landmark for Brighton & Hove’. CABE also acknowledged the significant revisions made to the scheme which has ‘made the overall development more coherent’ and the way that the perimeter blocks in particular better relate to the Kingsway and ‘offer improvements to the quality of life of residents’.
CABE is satisfied that the revised scheme has largely addressed its earlier concerns in terms of scale and massing and, specifically, it has ‘no reservations about the height and design of the towers’ and fully supports their distinctive design. CABE also welcomes the city’s leadership on renewable energy which the scheme has embraced and congratulated Karis on the consistency in quality between the affordable and market housing units.
CABE has continued to raise specific design issues but was confident these could be resolved and has concluded that it was satisfied that it did not need to review the project further.
Commenting on the report Karis Managing Director, Josh Arghiros, said :”This is a fantastic endorsement of the work that has been put in to enhance the scheme by Frank Gehry and all the design team as well as the Council itself and we are really pleased with CABE’s overall support. We agree wholeheartedly that this will be a landmark project for Brighton & Hove and would like to thank all the consultation groups and individuals that have provided such valuable feedback to help us achieve this. We are looking forward to working with all parties further to reach a successful planning consent.”
Karis Holdings is a joint venture between ING Real Estate and Karis Developments
Brighton & Hove Council’s Policy and Resources Committee yesterday supported the proposals by Karis and ING Real Estate for the redevelopment of the King Alfred site. The 300m project will deliver a much needed enlarged 48m sports centre, which will be fully privately funded, and an enabling residential scheme of 751 homes including the vital provision of 276 affordable homes at a subsidy of 32m.
The revised scheme has addressed all the concerns regarding massing and public realm previously raised by CABE and English Heritage and encompasses an enhanced and fully comprehensive package of sustainability features.
Siep Hoeksma, Country Manager, ING Real Estate said:”We are very pleased that councillors have endorsed the recommendations to Policy and Resources. We have evolved the plans to encompass people’s views and improve the scheme, including better design and integration, better public spaces and an even more sustainable scheme and we look forward to moving forward as quickly as possible.”
Councillors agreed that the new plans for the King Alfred redevelopment will deliver significant community benefits worth more than 80 million.
Josh Arghiros, Managing Director, Karis Developments said:”From the outset of this project we have been committed to providing an outstanding scheme for this site. The revised proposals demonstrate that we have listened very carefully to all the feedback we have received and this has been invaluable in helping us to develop new enhanced proposals that meet the needs and aspirations of the local community. It’s Full Steam Ahead now and we look forward to delivering this world class scheme for Brighton and Hove.”
The key changes include a significant redesign to address issues about bulk and height. The height of the buildings on Kingsway has been reduced by two storeys and now feature a curved roof and building profile to complement the sports centre design. The profile of the two towers has been refined and enhanced by increasing the height by three storeys. The colour of the buildings has been changed to a subtle white tone from the previous multi coloured palette and all the affordable homes now have a balcony. The new plans now include solar and wind energy, ‘green walls’ and extensive native wildlife friendly planting and vegetated shingle roofs - all designed to enhance the bio-diversity and local ecosystem.
