"West Street looks like a dodgy strip in Benidorm," says leading architect

In an exclusive interview with The Argus Paul Zara, director of internationally-renowned Conran and Partners, slammed Queens Road and West Street as shabby and “a disaster,” describing it as resembling a “dodgy strip in Benidorm.”

Mr Zara’s practice, initially set up by Sir Terence Conran, has been involved in some of the city’s biggest development projects from the Embassy Court building on King’s Road in Hove, to the restoration of the Saltdean Lido.

But the Brighton-based architect despairs at the first impression the city makes.

“What’s unique about arriving into Brighton, is that you can see the sea from the station.

“So that route is so important, because people arriving for conferences for example, they walk down the street to their hotel and everybody’s first perception of Brighton is that street.”

He acknowledged that comparisons with the famous Las Ramblas boulevard in Barcelona were cliched, but listed suggestions for improving the city’s “front door.”

He said: “Perhaps there could be shared surfaces like an exhibition road, because at the moment the traffic dominates the street, and really it should be about people.

“It’s crazy that they’ve re-done the station and there isn’t a route straight down to the sea without having to cross a road.

“At the moment the middle section of Queens Road road is really shabby, the clock tower junction is really dangerous, and I’m surprised more people don’t get hurt there.

“And then the strip down West Street is just a disaster. It’s horrible, and then there’s the smelly tunnel that takes you down to the beach, so there’s nothing to like about it, but it is a lot of people’s idea of what Brighton is.

“It feels like some dodgy strip in Benidorm or something, you wouldn’t want to be there late in the evening.”

He called on the council to focus investment in a “T” shape, running from the station to the seafront, and then out in both directions to the Marina and the King Alfred.

“What we need is a fully restored seafront and route to the sea.

“You could spread the money around the city, but if you focus the money in those two areas, the road to the sea and the seafront, the regenerative, catalytic effect of that will rub off on the whole city and benefit everybody.”

“If the council had the will to do it, my vision for 2020 would be this road to the sea sorted out.

“The most important part of your house is your front door, the most important part of a hotel is its reception, and this is Brighton’s front door.

“And at the moment it’s a really grubby front door.”

THE FIRST IMPRESSION SHOULD BE STYLISH AND ENTICING YET IN 2016 IT FEELS GRUBBY AND DEPRESSING

By Paul Zara, Architect and director at Conran and Partners

BRIGHTON and Hove is not the city it could be. The city we love is in need of a facelift.

Though there are ongoing developments across, these will take years to deliver and will not solve fundamental problems. But realistically, what can we hope to achieve by 2020?

First impressions count.

Having arrived at our inspiring Victorian railway station, most visitors head immediately south on Queens Road towards the seafront, our greatest asset.

This introduction to Brighton should comprised a well-considered axis from station to sea which incorporates tree planting, benches and sophisticated lighting.

This will encourage fashionable bars, cafés and restaurants to line the route and create a memorable first impression for visitors coming to Brighton.

This should be stylish, enticing and feel safe. Yet in 2016 it feels grubby and depressing.

There should be more community support officers patrolling this area, helping those in need and assisting unfamiliar visitors.

This vision also needs the council to allocate the necessary funding to kick-start the work.

It would be in their interest; encouraging visitors to dwell on Queens Road and West Street, as they do in The Lanes, would contribute to greater revenue for business owners and the council.

Having arrived at the Brighton seafront, part of Britain’s cultural and social history for over 200 years, one must cross a busy road. The tunnel, damp and dim, is hardly an appealing option.

To the east, Madeira Drive is dominated by scaffolding, creating an eyesore, while to the west we await the next generation of Brighton attractions, the i360.

It remains to be seen what the long-lasting impact of this little glass doughnut will be but I hope it transforms the area immediately in front of Regency Square and re-invigorates the seafront as a whole.

We can’t hope for too much by 2020 but real pressure needs to be applied to the rail companies to run London trains to London just vaguely on time.

It is unacceptable that Brighton-based business folk should have to allocate an extra hour to travel to a meeting in London just in case things go horribly wrong.

Since Conran and Partners set up the Brighton studio in 2007, this is a problem which has only worsened and severely harms our reputation as a city open for business.

It’s not just transport into and out of Brighton that deserves our attention.

We should consider a free shuttle bus from the station to the marina in order to entice visitors to parts of the city they would normally never visit.

This would continue along the seafront to the King Alfred before returning to the station, running every day with the highest frequency on summer weekends.

I’m hopeful the marina owners and King Alfred developers, alongside other businesses who would benefit, will consider sponsoring it.

Running along the seafront gives me a lot of time for ideas and problem solving. More often than not, it is the surrounding urban fabric which gets my attention.

Brighton is a fantastic place, aided by the proximity to London and its own heritage, but a living and breathing city cannot stand still.

It must continue to develop and improve and to that end I have proposed my own 2020 vision.

ZARA NOT THE ONLY ONE WITH IDEAS
Opinion by Joel Adams

WE HAVE seen no shortage of suggestions and enthusiasm for regenerating the city since The Argus launched the Seafront 2020 campaign last April.

Today another architect lends his voice and ideas to the debate over how best to improve the city.

Paul Zara’s criticisms today of the Queens Road/West Street route from the station to the seafront may be stinging.

But the suggestions he offers in the interview and opinion piece on this page – better, light, shared usage for the road, some more trees and benches – are prosaic in comparison to some of the more surprising ideas we have heard.

Earlier this month, Jubilee Library architect Nick Lomax proposed a string of suggestions for the seafront which included a multi-storey successor to the West Pier and a new sculptural art gallery near Hove lagoon.

He suggested the arches could be regenerated by using them as a linear car museum with classic models elevated on the back wall of Madeira Drive, under the overhang of Marine Parade.

Residents as well as experts have been keen to have their say.

At a meeting of the Regency Society shortly after new year, residents recommended using the shadow cast by the i360 as a city-sized sundial and resurrected ideas for a monorail to run the length of the seafront.

And last September Michael Doyle, who runs Doyle town planning and urban design in Brighton, released plans to create a glasshouse that shields the original iron of the arches from the weather.

He also proposed modern beach huts along a reinforced upper section with cafés and craft shops in the arches.

Mr Doyle, who has worked in planning and urban design for more than 25 years, said: “We need some pragmatic responses rather than high-principled conversation about heritage where buildings can be left to rot in the meantime.”

Whatever the shape of the city and seafront by the year 2020, its destiny is in the hands of those who live here and it is being grasped firmly.