The application for the £65 million overhaul of the King Alfred Leisure Centre on the Brighton seafront, which was lodged with Brighton and Hove City Council in March, has received nearly 500 public objections on its planning website.
The council-backed plans would see only the western part of the site transformed into a new leisure centre, significantly smaller than the current facility, while the remainder would be developed into more than 400 new flats.
First opened in 1939 and used as a navy training ground during the Second World War, the King Alfred Leisure Centre underwent a substantial expansion in the 1980s to designs by Scott Brownrigg and Turner of Guildford. Following this, regeneration plans were drawn up by Frank Gehry – a controversial £290 million scheme known as the ‘Wonky Towers’ or ‘Tin Can Alley’, which were approved in the early 2000s.
However, these plans were dropped during the 2008 financial downturn.
Haworth Tompkins made another attempt to upgrade the centre in 2016, with a proposal for 560 flats and ‘world-class leisure and community facilities’. The £40 million masterplan, developed for Crest Nicholson and the Starr Trust, was scrapped in 2019.
In 2024, Brighton and Hove City Council gave the go-ahead in principle for moves to demolish the building and replace it with a new £47 million leisure centre. GT3 was appointed lead designer by Alliance Leisure, on behalf of the council, and the team submitted its planning application in March this year.
Objections lodged on the council’s planning portal include concerns about the level of facilities that the new leisure centre would offer. The new building is set to occupy a significantly smaller footprint than the existing site.
Other objectors claimed the look of the new design was ‘too utilitarian’ and failed to make the most of its seafront location.
Meanwhile, on a website set up to provide an alternative proposal for the site, campaigners described the council-backed design as ‘grim’, and resembling ‘a long-term storage facility [rather] than a prestigious leisure centre’.
The ‘team of passionate Brighton and Hove residents’ behind the website has instead, presented a counterproposal for the King Alfred site, which focuses instead on retaining much of the existing building while expanding the activities and services on offer.
The group argues that this would lead to a faster build time, better value for money and more for the community to enjoy, including an ice-rink, mini-theatre and cinema, escape rooms and a tenpin bowling alley. This proposal would not include the any residential element (see below).
Alternative proposal by residents group for the King Alfred site
Source: https://www.kingalfred.site/
Similar objections have been levelled at the council scheme by local heritage and civic groups. The Regency Society, Brighton’s oldest conservation society, set up in 1945, likened the proposal as something which ‘might easily be mistaken for a shopping centre’ and criticised the architecture as ‘a collection of boxes’.
The Brighton Society also objected, pointing to the impact of the GT3 proposal on the Old Hove, Pembroke and Princes and Cliftonville Conservation Areas, in which the site sits.
Following submission, a round of consultations with planning officers from the council led to the design being amended to ‘enhance its architectural quality, civic presence and relationship with its surrounding context’.
Updated north and west elevations now feature images of figures in sports poses and changes to improve civic presence, such as raised elements in the façade and illuminated signs.
In March, councillor Alan Robins, cabinet member for sports, recreation and libraries, said: ‘These final designs reflect the feedback we’ve heard from residents and the progress we’ve made in developing a scheme that is deliverable, sustainable and right for this seafront site.
‘With the project team now firmly established and the plans worked through in detail, we have a clear and credible route to delivering a new leisure centre while keeping the existing facility open until the replacement is ready.’
Some groups , including the Dolphins Disabled Swimming Club, have praised the plan to provide updated facilities at the new leisure to replace what is an old building that has accessibility issues.
The planning application is expected to be determined at a planning committee meeting on 29 July. Some preparation work has already begun on the site to clear vegetation with a projected opening date set for 2028.
GT3 Architects has been approached for comment.