The Boxpark plans for Madeira Terrace

Roger Wade, Brighton and Hove resident and Boxpark founder, has developed the plans alongside project creator Paul Nicholson from Brighton-founded Chalk Architecture, with the hope of restoring Madeira Terrace to its previous grandeur.

Boxpark, a retail and leisure development company, hopes to secure a 12-month exclusivity period to explore design, funding and management opportunities for the regeneration project.

It wants to revive the crumbling Victorian arches into a ‘world-class retail and leisure development’, incorporating a new premium hotel operator.

The Boxpark plans for Madeira Terrace

The development would see the arches augmented with a new building and urban green spaces that would aim to substantially increase commercial performance in the area by creating hundreds of jobs and encouraging international tourism to Brighton and Hove.

Mr Wade said: “As a Brighton and Hove resident, I’m passionate about the regeneration our of outstanding seafront.

“Madeira Terrace is the embodiment of the Victorian grandeur that saw Brighton become the UK’s favourite seaside destination. Our proposal aims to redevelop this much-loved area to create a year-round retail and leisure destination to be enjoyed by local residents and visitors to the coast alike.

“We’re looking forward to the opportunity to work with Brighton and Hove City Council, local stakeholders and businesses and our development partners over the next 12 months to explore how we bring the Boxpark concept to Brighton, whilst retaining the architecture and heritage that our seafront is synonymous with.”

Paul Nicholson, director of Chalk Architects, said: “Further to developing a concept to save the Madeira Arches in 2015, we have had an ongoing constructive engagement with the local community about our ideas via our social media. In response to significant public interest the scheme has evolved over time into a dynamic proposal of new and enhanced public space wrapping around leisure, hospitality and commercial office use. Working with the Boxpark team has transformed the scheme into an exceptionally exciting prospect.”

Brighton and Hove City Council is set to revamp three of the 152 arches after a successful fundraising campaign last year, which saw the community raise £463,947. But it failed in a bid for £4.2m Heritage Lottery Funding (HLF) – but said it would reapply in the next round.

At the time, council leader Daniel Yates said: “We remain positive that funding will eventually be received for Madeira Terrace despite this early setback.

“The crowdfunding campaign has given the project a clear and very strong public mandate and this funding bid will be one of many. Had we been successful this time round with HLF, the award would have delivered radical change on the seafront so we owed it to the city and the thousands of people who supported the crowdfunding campaign to put ourselves forward at the earliest opportunity.

“With or without HLF money, the plan to restore three arches is secure and we will continue to pursue all avenues of funding open to us to keep the larger project moving forward.”

A council spokesperson said: “We are aware of Boxpark’s interest in being involved in regenerating Madeira Terrace.

“We will need to look at the proposed financing of their plans as well as their potential heritage and environmental impact.

“We also need to be mindful of other interested parties such as English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund, who both have an interest in important historical structures.