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Report - - Cooperative Building, London Road, Brighton, 01/2010 | Other Sites | 28DaysLater.co.uk

Report - Cooperative Building, London Road, Brighton, 01/2010

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artek

28DL Member
28DL Member
Hi guys! I am an Interior Architecture graduate from Brighton University. Much of what we do is take the shell of old buildings and redesign the interior for different applications. My second year project building was the old Cooperative building on London Road in Brighton. I have been a follower of the forum for a couple of years now and have finally got round to posting my report.

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CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETY STORE : The largest building in London Road is the Brighton Co-operative Society store. In 1906 the 'Co-op' acquired no.96 and gradually took over the adjoining premises which were united into a single store in about 1919. The present store, designed by Bethell and Swannell, was opened on 12 September 1931 with four storeys and a 180-foot frontage relieved only by two giant, fluted Doric columns above the entrance. Now the largest department store in Brighton, it is rivalled in size only by Hanningtons; the Baker Street supermarket originally opened in 1962, and further additions in 1975 and 1980 have brought the total floor area to some 70,000 square feet.

The store reached the end of the road in February 2007 and closed. The last days of the store's existence saw staff selling off everything - stock, shelves, workers' lockers: the lot!

Closure had been on the cards since 2005 when the Co-operative Group made the decision to close the whole of its loss making department store business. Since then attempts to find a buyer for the store as a going concern have failed.

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Unfortunately we were only given access for a short period of time and so alot of the photos were rushed as the building is unbelievably huge. Access to the top floor was prohibited as the building has suffered extensive water damage. The basement was also fairly waterlogged due to a burst water main, however had drained enough to allow access.

The building has since been used to stage a performance/ play type thing by production company 'dream think speak'. It would be interesting to gain access again and to see how much has changed and if remnance of the production can be seen.

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We found a wide range of Safes' on the second floor in the offices behind the Customer Service desk and Bank.

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I have read your beginers guide to writing reports and understand that you prefer an upload of 6 photographs, however i am unaware of any other reports on this building and so wanted to include as much as i could.

I will also upload some montages i made for my project as they may be of some interest. Hope you enjoy!! =)
 
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