Cotton Street Development

Description

The development is accessed via a small, flint-lined addition to Seaford's main shopping street. Visitors pass through this doorway into a generous, south-facing garden with a wide range of planting, pergolas and water features. Access to the dwellings is provided by a spiral stair which climbs from the garden area to the upper floors, a large timber trellis wrapping around it to provide support for climbing plants at its base. The entire south elevation is enclosed within a generous wintergarden, providing circulation and semi-private balconies which overlook the gardens below. A series of voids cut within these terraces encourage social interaction between neighbours, allowing diagonal views up and down, increasing the effective number of direct neighbours threefold.

Planning History

A planning application for the redevelopment of the site was submitted on 5 March 2014 and recommended for approval by Lewes District Council. However, the scheme was refused planning permission by Councillors on 23 December 2014. A subsequent appeal was allowed, with a decision date of 6 October 2015. A second application, submitted in parallel with the appeal, including a number of minor design amendments, was approved on 13 November 2015.