French Church remains Unlisted

Posted on by May 16, 2012

The culture secretary has turned down the MCHA’s attempt to list the French protestant church listed. The church is in the city’s Regency Square conservation area, tucked away behind the seafront in a mews that partly serves the adjacent Metropole Hotel. The church closed in 2008 and is now a private house.

We asked English Heritage to list the building largely because of its cultural significance. But the culture secretary ruled that its architecture wasn’t good enough to be worth listing. The association decided not to appeal against this ruling. It is notoriously difficult to get Victorian buildings listed. Continue reading →

Work Stops at Mitre House

Posted on by May 16, 2012

Killby and Gayford the construction company hired to convert the northern block of Mitre House into a hotel have gone bust.

Construction work on Mitre House stopped in April, barely a month after it started. Killby and Gayford was one of the biggest construction firms in the country and carried out the renovation of Downing Street in 2008. The company is now in the hands of the administrators. Continue reading →

Object now to plans for high-rise hotel on Ice Rink site

Posted on by May 16, 2012

FRESH plans to build a high-rise hotel on the old ice rink site in Queen Square have been submitted by developers Stonehurst Estates. However, the plans show little change from those that the same developer submitted last year. The MCHA has renewed its objections to this high-rise horror.

The previous plans for a six-storey hotel were withdrawn at the end of January, just days before they were due to be considered by the planning committee. More than 200 people objected had objected to these plans. Continue reading →