Budget increase for Hastings regeneration project

On Monday (December 7), Hastings Borough Council agreed to increase funding for a project to convert the upper floors of 12/13 York Buildings – a grade II listed building in Wellington Place – into six flats.

As a result, the project’s budget is to go up by £166,000, which will put the total  up to £1.011m. 

Peter Chowney, cabinet member for finance, said: “This was never intended to be an income generating scheme, this was a way of bringing a long-abandoned building, the upper parts of it, back into use and providing housing in the town centre. It is very much a regeneration project rather than an income generating one.

“Inevitably with listed buildings like this you are going to get problems and we anticipated that. Of course this building is listed not because of any architectural value of the building as such, it’s the mathematical tiling on the front.

“It’s that that makes the whole building listed, which means any work you do to the rest of the building have to be to conservation standards and costs a lot more even though that building is of no intrinsic conservation value.

“What’s happened is the costs have gone up several times because of things that have been found as work has been done there.”

Construction works began in December last year, but the works were hampered due to the first national lockdown in March, with supply chain disruption and health and safety concerns leading to a site closure.

While works resumed in June (after a closure of ten weeks), council officers say this disruption means the contract will need to be extended, which will lead to additional costs.

On top of this, the contract was initially only for internal conversion works, but once underway it was found that external structures – including windows, cills and gullies – also required maintenance. The additional costs for these works have been estimated at £45,980.

While not all these works need to be completed immediately, officers say it would be more cost effective to carry them out while scaffolding is up. 

Further unforeseen works have also been needed to address water damage and ensure the building meets fire safety regulations.

The cabinet last considered this project in September 2019, when the budget was increased from £757,000 to £846,000. 

Of the additional £166,000 approved, £46,000 is to be drawn from earmarked council reserves with the remaining balance being funded by borrowing.

Cllr Chowney said: “I still think this is a worthwhile project, because it is not costing us anything as such. We won’t make a huge amount of money out of it – we won’t make anything to speak of – but we are still containing the costs.”