Plans to develop a new park on land between the King Alfred and Hove Lagoon, have been hit with huge rises in construction costs.
The Kingsway to the Sea scheme that includes plans for outdoor sports facilities and a new café, had a budget of £12.99m approved by councillors in 2022 with £9.5m coming from the Government’s Levelling Up fund.
Work started in February to prepare the area for a new outdoor sports hub building. However, rising construction costs and the current national shortages of materials and labour have resulted in unprecedented cost inflation and a funding gap of £3.9m.
Project officers, designers and construction partners have worked hard to identify ways to reduce building costs with minimal impact on the project and have proposed taking out some features to reduce the funding gap to £2,220,000.
As the project is in excess of what can be afforded, councillors at the next Strategy, Finance & City Regeneration Committee will be asked to review options to further reduce the scope of features in the park and the associated costs.
Council Leader and Chair of the Strategy, Finance & City Regeneration Committee, Bella Sankey says: “Our new park on Hove seafront is going to be transformative and provide for cultivated green spaces, outdoor leisure and activities, and improved access to our seafront.
“Sadly, rampant inflation means the costs of construction have been steadily rising everywhere and we are also being affected by a national shortage of materials and labour.
“Our fantastic community and residents have inspired and led this project from the outset and worked closely with council officers at all stages to ensure we’re delivering what people want. We’ll be using this information to prioritise what features we should retain and we’re also asking residents to provide any further feedback on how we adapt to these increased costs."
More information about the facilities and cost savings proposed
If you would like to share your feedback on which facilities currently proposed are most important to you, please email KingswaytotheSea@brighton-hove.gov.uk by Friday 30 June.