Student studios combine with hotel provision
In October 2020 property developers Cochrane Design obtained planning permission from Hastings Borough Council to convert the former University of Brighton building at 44 Havelock Road into dual use residential accommodation. During academic terms 106 self-contained studios would be dedicated to students of East Sussex College (ESC). In holiday periods, particularly over the summer, they would be made available as holiday lets. The building work, employing local architects and contractors and with design input from ESC, was held up by Covid-19 restrictions, but Cochrane Design issued a press release in February last year stating that it would start as soon as the national lockdown then in operation had been lifted.
The unforeseen prolongation of the Covid-19 pandemic has hindered the development. But in the course of the last 12 months there has also been a change in Cochrane Design’s plans. The number of student studios will now be reduced to 49, currently being built as Phase 1 and intended to be ready for the next academic year starting in September 2022. The rest of the building, under Phase 2, is to become a hotel under the brand name Vive (after an award-winning hotel in Ibiza developed by the same team). This will offer 48 rooms year-round in a range of sizes – some for individuals or couples, but also some bigger family units. It will also be able to expand into most of the student rooms during the summer, making a maximum of 97 units in combination.
The student rooms will be equipped with kitchenettes and bathrooms, and will therefore be ideal for budget holiday lettings.
Cochrane Design are hoping to attract a small amount of matched funding from the Hastings Town Investment Plan for community and public space enhancement. Add-ons include electric car parking spaces and a green wall at the rear, while the large basement area, originally planned to offer a common room, games rooms and other student facilities, is to be re-designed as a community event space. This was decided after a public meeting held by Cochrane Design at the university: the opinion expressed overwhelmingly by local businesses, members of the public and council members who attended was that the town is in desperate need of an event space of this size.
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