Black Rock Development Brief

Following LEP investment to de-risk the site, the Council wanted to make progress towards marketing and development. Our team explored a series of strategic outcomes based on a range of potential leisure-led uses and came up with a decision-making framework to inform a project definition process and support the Council to move the project forward.

Initial discussions showed wide-ranging aspirations for the future of Black Rock, with no clear consensus around the Council’s strategic priorities for the site. Potential strategic options included an iconic arts/ cultural project to attract new visitors, the Council’s Eastern Leisure Hub to serve local residents, and a commercial attraction.

Our team identified the key challenges that would need to be addressed (either directly by the project or to enable it) for successful delivery of the project:

• The site’s strategic location at the end of the seafront, a key gateway to Brighton Marina and at a hinge point between different Biosphere environments.
• Its local context, set right on the seafront, beneath the cliff and adjoining Brighton Marina’s access and car parking structures.
• The relative inaccessibility of the site for visitors and residents – 45 min walk from the rail station with no public transport along the seafront (although with a route to allow future services), and with cliffs and subways acting as barriers to local access.
• Identifying potentially viable (or fundable) and sustainable leisure uses that could also deliver placemaking, design quality and other public benefits.

We explored a long-list of potential uses and built precedents, focussing on options and funding models for an iconic arts/ cultural offer. To demonstrate how a sustainability framework can underpin a project process, we also developed value objectives for the site, based on the Construction Innovation Hub’s Value Toolkit. We then explored 3 strategic outcomes through design-led capacity testing, assessing sustainability and viability/ funding/ operating models in each case. We recommended an approach based on short-term uses with long-term potential to support arts/ culture/ creative industries, which could either be delivered incrementally or via some form of joint venture.

Our recommendations included a decision-tree to help the Council structure its approach to making fundamental decisions about the strategic priorities for the development of Black Rock.