Major Brighton co-living scheme wins appeal
We are delighted that Kosy Living have won their Planning Appeal against Brighton & Hove City Council and have now secured planning permission for Brighton & Hove’s first co-living scheme on the site of Enterprise Point in Melbourne Street, Brighton. This paves the way for the multi million-pound sale by Oakley Property to Kosy Living.
Kosy Living have secured planning for a 6-8 storey development on this run-down site that sits in Brighton’s Academic Corridor, and will provide 270 co-living studios. Kosy Living have a development pipeline of £1bn and nationwide they are on track to secure 4,000 beds through their co-living model.
Chris Oakley, Oakley Property Executive Chairman, comments:
"Now the Planning Appeal has been won the sale of the site, on behalf of our clients Cross Stone, should complete in the autumn paving the way for Kosy Living to get on site and start regenerating this run down area. Getting to this stage has been an incredibly long journey, which we started in 2014 when we secured planning for Cross Stone to convert the site into apartments and offices. This initial scheme had to be a stepping stone to a more viable solution for the site and we knew it would be a long and hard planning journey to battle the local planning policies. Kosy have an exciting business model and its such a shame that it has taken so long to secure planning on what is clearly, a totally redundant urban site, no longer fit for purpose!"
The Planning Appeal was decided on two main factors, the effect the proposal would have on the character and appearance of the area; and the effect of the proposal on the living conditions of neighbouring occupiers with regard to light and privacy. The Inspector concluded Brighton & Hove could not demonstrate a five-year housing supply and has a significant shortfall at 1.9 years, a shortfall of 7,700 dwellings. Further, the scheme will contribute the equivalent of 149 dwellings to Brighton and the construction of the scheme would bring local economic benefits. The decision also took into account a £2.5m developer contribution to affordable housing.
We acquired Enterprise Point for Cross Stone in 1995 and converted the then redundant high-rise factory to a mix of offices, workshop and leisure uses, which we let and managed for them. However, as we came out of the financial crisis around 2011, it became clear the building was again becoming redundant for that purpose. At this point we managed the planning journey for Cross Stone to try and secure appropriate residential based development on the site. It is often frustrating to think that to regenerate what is clearly a prime city centre site, the planning journey can take in this case around 15 years and huge expense, in order to deliver much needed regeneration that will provide homes and huge economic benefit to the city.
