Leisure centre gets urgent repair

The King Alfred Centre needs urgent work if it is to remain open

Urgent repair work is to start next month at a sports and leisure centre on Hove seafront which was to have been pulled down and redeveloped.

Surveys of the King Alfred Leisure Centre have found it needs £1.5m spent on health and safety and maintenance work if it is to be kept open.

Brighton and Hove City Council has provided an initial £859,000.

Plans to build two towers, designed by architect Frank Gehry, on the site were scrapped at the beginning of November.

Dutch bank ING, which had been due to fund the £290m redevelopment, pulled out in July because of the credit crunch.

Developer Karis tried to find other funds before it admitted defeat.

Lacking investment

Planning permission for the scheme designed by world-renowned architect Gehry, which would have seen flats, restaurants and cafes built on the site, was granted in March 2007.

The controversial "crumpled" design included 754 flats in two towers and several lower blocks, and about 40% was to have been affordable housing.

Plans also included a £48m sports centre with a multi-coloured domed roof to replace the King Alfred centre.

A report before the council's cabinet on Thursday evening said the leisure centre had been run without significant investment for some time.

It agreed to allocate the £859,000 from capital reserved for affordable housing in the now-abandoned scheme.

The work will ensure the leisure centre remains open for the foreseeable future while the long-term fate of the site is decided.

But the meeting was told further funds will almost certainly be required once all the necessary surveys are completed.