Over 450 people visited a public exhibition this weekend showing proposals for regenerating the Circus Street Market into a new area of Brighton with homes, offices for creative digital businesses, student accommodation, a new arts, library and teaching building for the University of Brighton and a new home for South East Dance.
The exhibition, held in a temporary space created inside the derelict fruit and vegetable market warehouse, included performances from local dance troupes by South East Dance, including Ceyda Tanc and bGroup, a display of local historical photographs and a plant give-away, symbolising the scheme’s committment to the future ‘greening’ of the space and its goal to achieve One Planet Living environmental values.
“We are delighted with the turn out and the most common comment from people who came in was that it was about time that this derelict market area was improved,” said Rob Sloper, Project Director of Cathedral Group, developers behind the scheme who are working in partnership with Brighton & Hove City Council, the University of Brighton and South East Dance.
“We will be holding further meetings and events over the coming weeks, particularly providing neighbours of the site an opportunity to input on important aspects of the scheme, including the public spaces in and around the site, what local use can be made of community dance space and what kinds of local business and retail would be welcome in the area.”
This sustainable, green development will create over 600 new jobs and contribute £200m to the city’s economy over the next 10 years, aiming to transform the area, bringing it back to life, contributing significantly to the growth of Brighton & Hove’s economy and creating a beautiful new place to live and work.
A website including the full public exhibition is live at www.circusstreetmarket.comincluding a simple online questionnaire for people to fill in and share their views on the scheme by Sunday May 12 for this pre-planning application stage of the project. A planning application is expected to be submitted later in the summer.