Royal Pavilion Garden works due to start 9 November after Cabinet backs £8m budget

Restoration work in the Royal Pavilion Garden has an estimated start date of 9 November, with completion estimated for November 2027, according to a council report. The council’s Cabinet approved the revised budget on 15 October, as Brighton and Hove News³ reported.

Cabinet raised the budget by £1.6 million to £8.038 million in total. The extra money comes from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Historic England and donations to the Royal Pavilion and Museums Trust, which leases and runs the garden. The council has put in £750,000 and isn’t adding more.

The council report names Blakedown Landscapes as the preferred contractor, with a contract sum of £5.174 million. The firm won a two-stage tender: 14 firms expressed interest, four were shortlisted and two bid. The contract is due to be signed on 22 October, and the decision can be called in until 23 October.

Under the 2024 planning approval, the work restores the Regency planting, puts back boundary railings based on the original 19th-century designs, and repairs the garden’s entrances and paths. The plans also include new visitor and community facilities, refurbished public toilets and a Changing Places toilet for disabled people. The Changing Places toilet will be free, opened with a RADAR key.

The project team tried to find a way for the ice rink to return to the Pavilion site this winter. The report says work will be happening on the rink site throughout the winter, and putting off the start would have “significant cost and funding implications”.

The report doesn’t say which parts of the garden will close during the works, or when. If the last £1.05 million can’t be raised, the project team has a list of work packages it could drop.

“It enables improvements at a scale which would just not be possible with council resources alone,” said Labour councillor David McGregor, the Cabinet member for culture and heritage, quoted by Brighton and Hove News.