Just four months after winning the 2017 Stirling Prize, the UK’s top honor for architecture, dRMM’s Hastings Pier is now up for sale, as the charity that owned and operated the structure was declared insolvent for failing to reach self-funding status.
The Hastings Pier Trust announced that they had been unable to raise the £800,000 ($1.1 million USD) per year required to keep the Pier running, as outlined by their three-year business plan developed in partnership with the Heritage Lottery Fund, Hastings Borough Council and East Sussex County Council. The Trust had hoped to capitalize on the Pier’s design recognitions to make the structure self-supporting as an events venue and visitor attraction.
The Pier is now listed for sale by British independent commercial property agency GVA, though it has not put a price on the structure, as they recognized the unique structure would be likely to fetch a wide range of offers based on the purchaser’s long-term vision for its use. The project, a renovation of the fire-destroyed original pier, had cost £14.2 million ($19.8 million) and was completed in 2016.
The listing has already attracted the interest of some high profile figures, including Sheikh Abid Gulzaro, owner of the nearby Eastbourne pier.
“I am 100 per cent serious about Hastings Pier and we have expressed our interest,” he told The Argus.
“It is clear Hastings Pier needs to become viable. At present it isn’t and that’s why it has gone into administration. It’s quite simple. There needs to be more on Hastings Pier which brings money in.”
The Pier will remain open to the public through the year, as the Hastings Pier Trust has already allocating funding for the 2018 season.
News via BBC, The Argus, Hastings Pier Trust
Hastings Pier / dRMM
Completed in 2016 in Hastings, United Kingdom. Images by Alex de Rijke, James Robertshaw, Oli Cunningham. The 2010 destruction of Hastings Pier by fire was an opportunity to redefine what a pier could be in the 21st century; transforming the shanty town...
dRMM's Hastings Pier Wins 2017 RIBA Stirling Prize
London-based architects dRMM have been announced as the winners of the 2017 RIBA Stirling Prize for their renovation of Hastings Pier, beating out a shortlist including projects by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners; Baynes and Mitchell Architects; Reiach & Hall Architects and Michael Laird Architects; Groupwork + Amin Taha; and 6a architects.
