Heritage Statement The Heritage Statement is for the applicant or agent to identify the heritage asset(s) that have the potential to be affected by the proposals and their setting. Please read the guidance notes provided at the back of this report to help you fill in the form correctly. https://www.brighton- hove.gov.uk/content/planning/heritage/heritage-statements Appendix 1 relates to the Historic Environment Record (HER) Consultation Report. You must state whether or not supporting data from the HER is required. There are 3 options: • HER report attached (this must be completed by the Historic Environment Record Team) • HER report not considered necessary – email attached from HER • HER report not required by the Local Planning Authority as detailed on the relevant website validation requirements Please tick the relevant box at the back of this form as to which option applies. Both the Heritage Statement and the Historic Environment Record Consultation report (Appendix 1) must be completed in order to meet validation requirements of the Local Planning Authority – tick the boxes on the right hand side below to confirm the sections completed. Note: All fields are mandatory. Failure to fully complete all fields may result in the form not being validated by the Local Planning Authority (LPA). To be completed by the applicant – please tick relevant boxes 1. Heritage Statement completed x 2. Appendix 1 completed 1 Heritage Statement Site name Flat 15, 59-62 regents court Address of site Flat 15 (including postcode) 59-62 regents court Regency Square Brighton BN1 2FF Grid Reference 1. Schedule of Works Please state the type of proposal e.g. extension to a listed building, internal alterations Internal alteration to a second storey flat layout to create one bedroom. The works were completed with planning permission granted in 1992 with the previous leasehold owner. Please list the works proposed e.g. replacement windows, removal of internal wall, reinstatement of original staircase, damp proofing works to basement etc. The erection of a partition wall using painted plasterboard on timber studwork, with painted plain unmoulded timber skirtings and ogee architrave, which is in keeping with the flats design/features. The works were completed with planning permission granted in 1992 with the previous leasehold owner. 2 2. Pre Application Advice Have you consulted the East Sussex Historic Environment Record, as the minimum requirement of the NPPF? ☐ Yes ☒ No If no, please provide the reasons why not below, including any correspondence with the HER/LPA archaeological advisor or LPA validation team: These works were completed by the previous leasehold owner in 1992, we believed consent was given for these works until it was bought to our attention recently as we are selling the property. If Yes, please attach any correspondence to this Heritage Statement in Appendix 1 (including the HER Consultation Report) Have you sought pre-application heritage advice from the relevant local planning authority? ☐ Yes ☒ No If Yes, please provide a copy of any written correspondence with reference number/contact name if applicable. Have you sought pre-application heritage advice from Historic England? ☐ Yes ☒ No If Yes, please provide a copy of any written correspondence with reference number/contact name if applicable. 3 3. What heritage asset(s), including their setting, are potentially affected by the proposals? (Please tick the relevant boxes below) (See guidance section: https://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/content/planning/heritage/heritage-statements- what-heritage-assets-are-affected-proposals) 1: Scheduled Monument (SM) ☐ 2. Listed Building (LB) ☒ 3. Conservation Area (CA) ☒ 4. Registered Park and Garden (RPG) ☐ 5. Historic Battlefield (HB) ☐ 6. Locally Listed Heritage Asset (LLHA) ☐ 7. Archaeological Notification Area (ANA) ☐ 8 Other Non-Designated Heritage Asset (including below ground ☐ archaeology) 4. What is known about the affected heritage asset(s)? (See guidance section: https://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/content/planning/heritage/heritage-statements-what-known- about-affected-heritage-assets ) 4 (a). Using the information obtained through research and on-site analysis provide a summary of the history of the site/building. Please add a summary history of the site/building including specifically the parts that will be impacted by the proposals – e.g. how the site/building was originally laid out, how it has evolved, phases of construction and/or change. Please also provide information on past impacts – e.g. modern extension, drainage, former footings, recent landscaping, gardening. Please include / attach any research material as an addendum to this Statement after Appendix 1. 4 In the 18th century, Belle Vue Field was an open site to the west of the town, the scene of military encampments described by Jane Austen in Pride and Prejudice. The field was bought by Joshua Hanson, who laid out the square and, from 1818-28, sold individual plots subject to covenants requiring facades of an approved design. Most of these designs were provided by Amon Wilds and his son, and their quality is reflected in their listing at grade II*. To the sides of the square, the houses are three or four storeys with basement, but the north elevation is a palace front of five storeys, the central pair bearing a pediment inscribed 'Regency Square' in large letters. As with Russell Square, the original materials were yellow brick with stucco dressings, but most have since been painted. A setted crossover in the pavement between Nos.42 and 43 indicates where there used to be a carriage arch leading to the mews, which has since been infilled. The railings are a distinctive design with conical tops. To the northeast is the Regency Tavern. Established in the mid-19th century in the rear third of the present premises, it has since expanded into two adjoining houses. Adjacent is an alleyway, once called Regency Colonnade, leading to Russell Square. In it are two listed bollards of fluted design. Leading south is Queensbury Mews in which five modern mews houses at the rear of Regency Square properties face the rear of the Metropole Exhibition Halls. At the southern end, however, there is a small redbrick French Protestant Church built in 1887. The only other of its kind is in Soho Square, London. The southern end also has distinctive channels to the carriageway formed of rectangular setts laid at right angles to the kerb. The West Pier was built axially to Regency Square, and there are wide views over the pier and of the sea beyond. In the 1960s, surface car parking was proposed on the gardens of the square, but this became an underground carpark, opened in 1969, and the present terraced lawns form its roof. As with the other squares, the original railings were removed for the war effort and these were eventually replaced with more utilitarian hooped steel railings. There are also square-tube railings at the entrances to the carpark, which intrude on the landscape. The mid-20th century lamp-posts are cast-iron imitations of gas standards modified with swan-necks for electrification. At the south end of the square is the Royal Sussex Regiment War Memorial. The bronze figure of a bugler on a tall Portland stone plinth was unveiled in 1904. 59-62 Regents Court consists of four grade II* listed buildings that form part of a consistent listed terrace on the east side of Regency Square, which is arranged on three sides around a central public garden. They date from c1818 and were probably designed by Amon Wilds and Amon Henry Wilds. The buildings vary between four and five storeys over basement. Originally townhouses, numbers 59-62 have been combined into flats and the internal layout has been much altered, with communal corridors and lift. This application relates to Flat 15 within number 61, which is a second storey flat. We consider the aesthetic values described above to be a principal contributor to the significance of Regency Square. In common with many of these once very grand family homes, the interior of this flat has been heavily subdivided and altered in the past. Regents Court consists of four houses that have been combined to form flats and the internal arrangement of the buildings has been much altered as a result of this, including the installation of a lift and the formation of linking communal hallways.5 4 (b) What research have you undertaken to understand the significance of the heritage asset(s) affected? Please tick the relevant boxes HER ☒ The Keep (East Sussex Record Office) ☐ Map regression (historic maps) ☐ Local Planning Authority sources ☐ Historic England sources ☒ Museum or Library (please provide details) ☐ Other (please state) ☒ (Please include / attach any research material as an addendum to this Statement after Appendix 1.) 5. What is important about the affected heritage asset(s) (‘the significance’)? (See guidance section: https://www.brighton- hove.gov.uk/content/planning/heritage/heritage-statements-what-important-about-affected- heritage-assets ) Use this space to describe the significance of the heritage asset(s) including their setting (and any below ground archaeology) identified in Section 3. Please see the guidance notes on page 9 on what a heritage asset is and how to define significance. (Please continue on a separate sheet of paper if further space is required and attach / include as an addendum to this Statement after Appendix 1.) The age of the square highlights the rich history dating back to the 18th century when the square was developed. The square provides architectural history of the regency era, highlighting craftsmanship, materials, features and decoration of the buildings. The building out of plots of land by developer-builders ensured at once both unity in architectural composition and yet a diversity of stylistic features. The result is an eclecticism of set-piece squares, crescents and palace fronted terraces with bows, verandas, pilasters and pedimented palace fronts all drawn together by their distinctive stucco fronts and decorative railings.