The designs put together by Liam Russell Architects of Brighton, will see the building – which also has elevations onto Castle Street – modified including patching up the render, and replacement of the existing windows to ones more sympathetic to the original building.

Three of the flats will have a single bedroom, one will have three bedrooms and the remaining five will be two-bed apartments. The building previously housed a HMV but has since gone through various short-lived retail incarnation including Brand Centre, Furniture Clearance, Madhouse Clearance and more recently as a Factory Outlet.

The application has been jointly submitted by residential developer Rocco Homes and the Co-Op supermarket, presumably indicating that the scheme will feature a new Co-Op in the 375sqm retail floorspace.

In addition to the new build, the application also plans to convert the upper floors of the Alibi pub into 4 flats, with the ground floor being either a pub or a retail unit. This brings the total number of flats up to 59, all of which are currently proposed as private units.

The new building will replace commercial storage buildings located very close to Hove station.

In addition to the apartments, 1,988sqm offices and 266sqm retail will be provided. Parking will be in the basement.

The scheme is known as Hove Gardens, and is designed by LCE Architects, based in nearby Brighton. They’ve designed the scheme for developer Matsim Property.

In addition to the tower, other buildings will be constructed and constitute an entire urban block with different materiality in each section, allowing the entire block to appear part of a more natural rather than comprehensive development. Internally a large courtyard offering amenity space to residents will be created.