Levelling-up funding paves way for new educational and cultural centre in national park
Towner Eastbourne, in collaboration with the Eastbourne Borough Council (EBC), has submitted a planning application to establish a new cultural and education centre, designed by Feilden Fowles, in the South Downs National Park.
The arts organisation grew out of a bequest of 20 paintings, left to the town by John Chisholm Towner in 1920. This has since developed into a significant collection of modern British and international art, including works by Eric Ravilious.
The aim of the project is to enhance local people’s lives by fostering connections between communities and visitors, facilitating their interaction with the natural environment, landscape, and cultural heritage of the South Downs.
The decision to submit the planning application comes in the wake of a successful £19.8 million bid by the Eastbourne Borough Council to the government’s Levelling Up Fund. £12.2m of the funding will go towards the cultural centre project.
The project will see the refurbishment of Black Robin Farm. Feilden Fowles’s design seeks to safeguard the agricultural character of the existing buildings, preserving their setting while expanding the campus to incorporate a new 690m2 flexible art gallery and a 700m2 events space.
Situated on a hill, the site has views of Beachy Head and the surrounding seascape. The new buildings will aim to emulate the patina of the existing farm structures.
The farmstead’s original buildings, with some dating back to the 1800s, are currently in varying degrees of disrepair. The proposed redevelopment seeks to replicate the north-south wings surrounding an education yard and productive orchard.
The intention is that the scheme will serve as a new eastern gateway to the South Downs, connecting with other tourist attractions along the Sussex coast, such as Beachy Head, Birling Gap, Seven Sisters, and Cuckmere Haven. The development of new walking, cycling, and sustainable transportation routes connecting these sites is aimed at creating an interconnected visitor experience for the approximately one million national and international visitors who frequent the region annually.
The Black Robin Farm cultural centre is projected to attract 100,000 visitors annually. It is hoped that this will breathe new life into Eastbourne’s visitor economy and bring about sustainable growth within the town and across East Sussex.
Fergus Feilden, director of Feilden Fowles, said: “The location of the new arts centre within the South Downs is breathtaking. We have taken a retrofit approach to preserve the character and distinctiveness of the Sussex landscape. It is our ambition to create a world-class centre for education, culture, heritage and the environment, and to make a building of lasting value which is rooted in its place.”
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