Major housing development in a historic Burton landscape.
Archery Road at St. Leonard’s on Sea provides more than 100 sustainable, high quality homes with sea views surrounded by quiet natural and built beauty overlooking the English Channel. This is the largest new development since James Burton and his son Decimus first developed St. Leonard’s as a planned seaside resort in the 19th century. Behind the formal classical sea frontage, 'Regent's Street-on-sea', the hilly uplands were developed from the mid 19th century with a series of carefully placed villas and terraces, sited in a picturesque manner to take full advantage of the topography and views.
The Archery Ground, a former quarry used by 'The Royal St. Leonard’s Archers' whose patron was Queen Victoria, was laid out as a garden. The Archery Villas to its south, now listed, had been used since the late 19th century as schools. In the 1950s Hastings College of Art and Technology moved to the site and a slab block was built on the Archery Ground: efficient, but not picturesque. A plan to redevelop the site for housing was stuck in planning for four years and generated huge local opposition. MBA were brought in to redesign the scheme. After...
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Major housing development in a historic Burton landscape.
Archery Road at St. Leonard’s on Sea provides more than 100 sustainable, high quality homes with sea views surrounded by quiet natural and built beauty overlooking the English Channel. This is the largest new development since James Burton and his son Decimus first developed St. Leonard’s as a planned seaside resort in the 19th century. Behind the formal classical sea frontage, ‘Regent’s Street-on-sea’, the hilly uplands were developed from the mid 19th century with a series of carefully placed villas and terraces, sited in a picturesque manner to take full advantage of the topography and views.
The Archery Ground, a former quarry used by ‘The Royal St. Leonard’s Archers’ whose patron was Queen Victoria, was laid out as a garden. The Archery Villas to its south, now listed, had been used since the late 19th century as schools. In the 1950s Hastings College of Art and Technology moved to the site and a slab block was built on the Archery Ground: efficient, but not picturesque. A plan to redevelop the site for housing was stuck in planning for four years and generated huge local opposition. MBA were brought in to redesign the scheme. After extensive and regular public consultation throughout the design process a new more coherent masterplan was developed and approved with local support.
The development provides:
- A new public garden square at the centre of the historic Archery Ground
- A new wildlife reserve
- Flats clustered around a landscaped podium with steps cascading down towards the sea
- The listed Archery Villas brought back into residential use, with an answering crescent to its north
- New homes ranging from four bed houses to one bed flats – the mix designed to met the requirements of community.
The design takes its form, layout and a restrained neo-classical language from the Burtons. New housing is in clusters of stuccoed villas, carefully placed to maximise sea views. The whole development is like an auditorium on a natural hillside, with the sea as the stage. At the upper part of the site a multi storey car park will provide a podium at the base of four small towers of flats, carefully aligned to look through and over the lower development towards the sea.
The new design was unanimously approved by the planning committee in November 2013. It was described as:
“… an inspiring example of community activism… I must commend the work of Marcus Beale whose architectural designs are superb”
Amber Rudd MP
“The developers went above and beyond in terms of consultation. This is a superb scheme and we should all embrace it.”
Councillor Michael Wincott, speaking at the planning meeting.
The development was taken forward by Gemselect Ltd. The first houses were occupied in 2020.
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