18 January 2011
Last updated at 11:25 ET

The Victorian Society said the NHS could deliver high quality care and also conserve historic buildings

A Grade II-listed chapel on a hospital site in Sussex will be destroyed if NHS redevelopment plans are not changed, the Victorian Society has said.

The society, which tries to protect historic buildings, is opposing demolition planned as part of Royal Sussex County Hospital’s redevelopment.

Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust has said the ageing buildings needed to be replaced.

The trust said its plans included preserving the chapel interior.

But the Victorian Society said moving the fittings but not keeping the building or windows was “not a proper conservation approach”.

‘Sea bathing’

“To all intents and purposes they are demolishing the chapel,” a spokesperson said.

Professor Duane Passman, director of estates and facilities for the NHS trust, said people had mainly objected to the loss of the facade of the Barry Building.

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The priority for the NHS must always be delivering high quality healthcare, but this need not be at odds with respecting and conserving historic buildings”

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Heloise Brown
Victorian Society

But he said retaining the facade would affect clinical planning for the cancer centre.

The building would also have to be higher than planned which would have an impact on residents, he added.

He said: “Instead, we propose to design a replacement building which is of the highest architectural quality.

“We will also find an appropriate place for the interior of the chapel and the many memorials within the Barry Building that have an invaluable link to the history of the hospital and the local community.”

The trust also said the Barry Building was considered for listed building status in 2009 but was not listed.

According to the health trust’s website, the main buildings at the front of the hospital were built nearly 200 years ago and have cramped wards and inadequate clinical areas.

It said there was an overwhelming need to replace the buildings with modern facilities that were welcoming, accessible and purpose-built for providing 21st Century healthcare.

Heloise Brown, conservation adviser for the Victorian Society, said: “The priority for the NHS must always be delivering high quality healthcare, but this need not be at odds with respecting and conserving historic buildings.”

She said the main hospital building was designed by Sir Charles Barry, architect of the Houses of Parliament, and the listed chapel was designed by the architect William Hallett in 1856.

Miss Brown said the hospital had an “interesting history” as an early proponent of sea bathing and water treatment cures, and its buildings formed a Brighton landmark that should be retained.