Hastings Pier has been put up for sale less than four months after winning UK architecture’s top accolade, following the charity behind the project going into administration.
Hastings Pier Charity, which was responsible for the dRMM-designed renovation of the pier on the south coast of England, suffered financial difficulties and was placed into administration in November 2017.
Commercial property agent GVA, acting on beneath of the administrators, has now put the pier on the market.
It has not priced the structure, which cost £14.2 million to renovate after a storm in 2008 and subsequent fire in 2010 left the structure abandoned.
“GVA is currently looking for expressions of interest, or offers, for Hastings Pier,” Richard Baldwin, director of retail, hotels and leisure confirmed to Dezeen.
“We are unable to place a price the pier as it is unique. It is a blank canvas and inevitably buyers perceptions will differ for the potential and end use.”
The pier renovation was completed with the support of a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, but the Hastings Pier Charity has failed to secure the £800,000-per-year it requires to keep the pier running.
Alex de Rijke, founding director of dRMM told Dezeen that the practice would continue to support the pier: “dRMM will continue to do whatever we can to invent ways to help the pier become sustainable.”
“The pier is the heart of the Hastings and St Leonards community. We hope it will continue to serve them, especially the resourceful people that took the incredible initiative to save it.”
Reassuringly to the pier’s many plaudits and users, Baldwin does not expect new owners to make significant alterations to the structure.
“I don’t think it will change its spots significantly. It’s cost prohibitive to carry out major works, its listed, and there are engineering restrictions,” he said.
Baldwin, who was involved in the sale of nearby Eastbourne Pier, predicts that a wealthy local may step in to purchase the landmark. There is speculation that the owner of Eastbourne’s pier, Sheikh Abid Gulzaro, could be a potential buyer.
“On the basis of previous sales, we could maybe expect to sell to a local or regional high-net-worth individual, with some commercial leisure experience, who would want to be seen to be a custodian,” said Baldwin.
The renovated pier reopened in April 2016, and was awarded the Stirling Prize in October 2017.
dRMM’s was previously shortlisted for the Stirling Prize for Trafalgar Place, a residential development that features multi-hued brickwork in London, and a primary school in Clapham, London.
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