Bayside is a development, currently under construction, located on the eastern approach to

Worthing Worthing () is a seaside town in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 111,400 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Brighton and Ho ...

town centre in

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Designed by

Allies and Morrison Allies and Morrison LLP is an architecture and urban planning practice based in London and Cambridge. Founded in 1984, the practice is now one of Britain's largest architectural firms. The practice's work ranges from architecture and interio ...

, it consists of two main buildings, the tallest of which, Bayside Vista, is a 15-storey tower that reaches and is the tallest building in Worthing. It replaced the Aquarena swimming pool. The site is about to the east of

Worthing Pier Worthing Pier is a public pleasure pier in Worthing, West Sussex, England. Designed by Sir Robert Rawlinson, it was opened on 12 April 1862 and remains open to the public. The pier originally was a simple promenade deck long and wide. In 1888 ...

, on the edge of East Worthing. It is bounded by Brighton Road to the north, Splashpoint Leisure Centre to the west, Merton Road to the east and the town's seafront and beach to the south. Views extend southwards across the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

and the Bay of Sussex and northwards towards the

South Downs The South Downs are a range of chalk hills that extends for about across the south-eastern coastal counties of England from the Itchen valley of Hampshire in the west to Beachy Head, in the Eastbourne Downland Estate, East Sussex, in the eas ...

. Construction began in November 2017 and the building was topped out on 1 October 2019. It was completed in 2022.

History

2015 original scheme

Roffey Homes originally proposed a 21-storey £40 million tower on the site. Planning permission was rejected by

Worthing Borough Council Worthing Borough Council is a district council in the county of West Sussex, based in the borough of Worthing. The borough council was created in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972 out of the existing Worthing Municipal Council, which also ...

in September 2015.

2017 revised scheme

Roffey appointed new architects,

, in November 2015. The 141-home scheme with a new seafront square, cafe and of commercial space was approved by Worthing Borough Council in January 2017. Bayside Vista is a 15-storey tower while Bayside Horizon is much lower and fronts Brighton Road. Once approved,

Peter Bottomley Sir Peter James Bottomley (born 30 July 1944) is a British Conservative Party politician who has served as a Member of Parliament (MP) since 1975 when elected for Woolwich West, serving until it was abolished before the 1983 general election. ...

, MP for Worthing West called for a Government inquiry into the plans but the

Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government The secretary of state for levelling up, housing and communities, also referred to as the levelling up secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, responsible for the overall leadership and strategic direction o ...

Sajid Javid Sajid Javid (; born 5 December 1969) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care from June 2021 to July 2022, having previously served as Home Secretary from 2018 to 2019 and Chancellor of the Exchequer ...

declined the request to intervene.

Architecture

Designed to act as a counterpoint to the horizontal massing of the adjacent

Splashpoint Leisure Centre Splashpoint Leisure Centre is a leisure centre located in the centre of Worthing, West Sussex, England. It contains a 25-metre long pool and gymnasium. Designed by WilkinsonEyre it won an award at the World Architecture Festival in 2013. Wilki ...

, Bayside acts as a marker of the start of the town centre esplanade and beach, with a lantern-like structure. According to Ben Cheal of Roffey Homes, the design from Allies and Morrison incorporates features from historic buildings in Worthing. Writing in the ''

Architects' Journal ''Architects' Journal'' is an architectural magazine published in London by Metropolis International. History The first edition was produced in 1895. Originally named ''The Builder's Journal and Architectural Record'', from 1906 to 1910 it was ...

'', Ella Braidwood called the overall design of Bayside 'playful' and described the Bayside Vista tower as 'curvaceous'.

Bayside Social

Masterchef ''MasterChef'' is a competitive cooking show television format created by Franc Roddam, which originated with the UK version in July 1990. The format was revived and updated for the BBC in February 2005 by executive producers Roddam and John ...

'' winner Kenny Tutt opened his second Worthing restaurant, called ''Bayside Social'' at Bayside in 2021.

Ranking among Worthing high-rise buildings

Bayside Vista is the tallest tower in Worthing. When it was topped out on 1 October 2019 it overtook Manor Lea in West Worthing which had previously been Worthing's tallest building at tall since it was built in 1967.

Previous uses of the site

* The Aquarena Swimming Pool opened in 1968 as Worthing's main indoor swimming pool, replacing the West Worthing Baths in Heene Road. Designed by John Attenborough the pool was closed in 2013 and demolished in 2018. * Grounds of Beach House - in the 19th and early 20th centuries the site was part of the extensive grounds of

Beach House Beach House is an American musical duo formed in Baltimore, Maryland in 2004. The band consists of Victoria Legrand (vocals, keyboards) and Alex Scally (guitar, keyboard, backing vocals). Their self-titled debut album was released in 2006 t ...

. The site, along with the rest of Beach House and its grounds was sold at auction to Percy Brazier for £16,000. Brazier then sold the site to Worthing Council for the same price of £16,000.

References

{{Worthing Buildings and structures in Worthing