The adoption of the Modernist style by Caffyns was no accident. The famous Sussex car dealer rapidly expanded during the 1930s, at which point a conscious decision was taken to embrace the new. Modernist branches were built in Haywards Heath in 1935 and in East Grinstead in 1936. Hove’s was completed in 1938. This very international style of architecture influenced, and took influence from, boats, cars and planes.

The link between Modernism and planes was welcomed in the naming of a brand new block of flats on the old Caffyns site. The nearly-finished ‘Vega Building’, built to the designs of London-based PTE, has just been unveiled. The Lockheed Vega was used by Amelia Earhart in 1928 to fly from Canada to Northern Ireland in what was the first solo trans-Atlantic flight by a woman. There is another plane link, of which I am not sure that others are aware, which is that aircraft parts were actually manufactured on the site during the Second World War.

The Vega Building is owned by Southern Housing Group and consists of 40 flats over four storeys. There is also an underground car park. Just like the structure that it replaced, it features white render, stark lines and ribbon windows. I particularly like the balconies’ glass panels which come in a variety of sea-inspired colours. The building’s round corner bays actually feature curved panes of glass, which is most pleasing.

Frosted glass throughout the stairwells (in what I interpreted as the popular Art Deco eau de Nile colour) reminded me of Lalique’s work throughout the Glass Church in Jersey. One criticism though is that these lovely tall panels obscure views across Hove, sea and Downs.

Extra special effort has been put into getting the signage throughout the building right by Richard Wolfstrome and Andy Parsons of Brighton-based branding consultancy Yelo Wolf. The Avant Garde font has been employed in satin stainless steel on doors, corridors and stairwells alongside sleek cut-outs of the Vega itself.

Attention to detail on this project is serious. Lighting in the central glass panels actually rises and falls with the tides, no doubt as a beacon to any passing pilots who fancy a sea-landing.

My own hope was that Brighton & Hove City Council would sell its palatial (well, on the outside anyway) seafront office – King’s House – and move into the Co-op. But this was not to be. It is now being torn down to make way for 351 student flats.

A chance meeting with acoustic consultant Daniel Goodhand, who certainly has his work cut out on this rather large demolition project, led to an introduction to project manager Simon Cowell from Watkin Jones, the Bangor-based developer of the scheme. Simon kindly agreed to a tour. Once I had donned hard hat, steel toe cap boots and high visibility jacket, I was ready to go.

I recall just a single trip into Co-op when it was actually trading and I remember nothing in the way of historical features. I imagined that the building consisted simply of a façade, with unremarkable concrete expanses behind.

We began the tour on London Terrace behind where two huge, and quite life-like, caterpillar-tracked demolition vehicles were tearing apart the rear or the building like steel dinosaurs. We slipped past them and headed towards the basement. It was on the winding steps down that I saw an intricate array of blue and orange tiles in what I identified as an Aztec theme.

An Aztec influence would fit with the building’s Art Deco heritage. It was built in 1931 to the designs of Bethell & Swannell. The wide façade features huge fluted Doric columns and will soon be held up by scaffolding alone. Although it is to be retained, it will be left separate from the new structure by means of a narrow void.

The stripping out of the old store is well progressed so many original features are on display including tiled floors which had been hidden for years. An old vault sits empty, save for a few locked safes beside a large bunch of keys. Rows of toilets sit beside each other without cubicles. Old signs remind staff that strangers could be thieves.

I could have happily spent hours investigating but I am grateful to have had this rare glimpse. It will almost all be gone soon so that the new building can rise from the ashes – in time for an August 2014 completion.

I did briefly meet Kevin McCloud at the time but, more importantly to me, I recently met the designer of the house, Duncan Baker-Brown of BBM Architects. We were set to debate against each other at a Regency Society event on balancing conservation with eco-friendliness (though seemed to agree for much of it). Duncan has rejuvenated the project and will be presenting it to interested parties during Green Architecture Day on Saturday 27th April.

Green Architecture Day has been organised by Brighton Permaculture Trust to educate and inspire on the fascinating subject of self-build housing, It is set to take place at Brighton University’s Faculty of Arts where Duncan is a senior lecturer on architecture.

I have previously written about the work of Ian McKay of BBM in a piece about the Faculty of Arts. The glass and concrete Grand Parade campus was built to the designs of Borough Surveyor Percy Billington and opened in 1967. BBM completed a series of fitting additions in 2007 in their trademark eco-friendly style. The Waste House is being constructed on a forgotten corner of the campus, which is adjacent to William Street and Grand Parade Mews behind.

The project pulls together a number of different organisations including the university of Brighton, City College and Mears. The foundations are in and all manner of eco-friendly materials have been lined up by Cat Fletcher of Freegle for the walls, roof, insulation and other components. Whilst some of the materials are standard building products – albeit previously unwanted, such as second-hand bricks, others are less orthodox.

A myriad of discarded common objects are being lined up for use in the Waste House. Cat showed me her secret storage warehouse where all manner of superfluous items are kept. Everything from recycled timber and the legs from denim jeans, to video cassettes and polystyrene, will somehow be incorporated. Nothing will go to waste on this project.

Also on the day will be talks on straw bale construction, the use of natural materials, and many other related subjects, with a discussion to finish things off. See www.brightonpermaculture.org.uk to find out more about Green Architecture Day.

The location of the Hove mansion is no secret locally and the quality of the work clear to all. Ewan Stoddart of LCE Architects, the firm that was responsible for both the Jubilee Library and the Open Market, were behind the project with JCL as contractor and Master Builder Neil England as conservation sub-contractor. That same team is now close to completing another historic project for Mr Gilmour on a different building just around the corner.

The scheme essentially involves the major remodelling of what began as an artists’ studio into, as one might expect, a musicians’ studio. Until not that long ago, cars were being fixed in the quirky sunken single-storey structure which, like the house, is Grade II listed with views of the sea. The sleek ultra-modern design of the updated studio, now called ‘Medina Studio’, has attracted praise from many quarters but one element – a historic cross – has proved to be a bone of contention for Ewan and his team.

The stone cross in question is set into what appears to be the original back wall of one of the buildings on nearby Victoria Terrace. It serves as a memorial to Wilford Cole Verner who died of typhoid fever at the age of 26 on 21st November 1889. As Victoria Terrace was the family home, it seems unlikely that any bones are situated beneath the cross today. People don’t tend to get buried in their own back gardens after all.

During the works to the studio, it was found that the cross, in its original location, would be obscured by a small store. The council agreed to it being moved but a huge fuss was made about this seemingly sensible act being carried out. An expensive second planning application ensued which involved copious amounts of historic information being submitted about the history of the cross. Mr Wilford’s grandson, today aged 90, was even contacted to see if he was happy about the move. He had no objections apparently.

The council eventually agreed to the cross being moved which will also involve it being refurbished by Tilley’s Stonemasons. By the time that this piece is published, it should be residing in its new home on the west side of the studio.

The residence in question is situated on Eaton Road, to the west of Wilbury Grove, and appears to have been built within the curtilage of one of the grand mansions of The Drive. A pair of tall uninviting gates hide a 75ft-long private service road which extends across the hidden façade of the property, and that same distance again.

It may well be that the service road once served other buildings but this is difficult to ascertain as where it once might have ran is now dominated by the monstrous modern blocks of Grove Court and Bowen Court. Past these is the Courtlands Hotel, behind which there are old stables whose positions suggest that the mews did once serve a number of properties on The Drive.

‘The Coach House’ is an appropriate name for this unique detached dwelling given its previous connection with horses. This change of use is significant as it means that there is little in the way of original details inside. The best feature of the building is perhaps the gorgeous yellow brick from which it has been constructed; much of which has sadly been painted white. A golden rule of property is that brick should never be painted. Painting causes damps, looks awful and creates a maintenance headache. The paint should be removed to expose the lovely brick immediately.

The incredibly tired interior essentially consists of two large living spaces downstairs and four bedrooms upstairs. It could, and should, be entirely reconfigured. The staircase should be repositioned to create more useable space on both floors. A bedroom should be lost and an en-suite added.

I would flood the downstairs with light by replacing the entirety of the hidden façade with glass where wide stable doors would once have been located. I would increase privacy by carefully bricking-up the ground floor tavern-style window which opens directly onto the pavement but add windows upstairs to make proper use of views towards Grade I listed All Saints Church which is directly opposite.

I’ve got it all planned out. I now just need £475,000.

It was not long ago that new outlets of this highly successful local enterprise opened on Wilbury Road and Jubilee Street in quick succession. A branch on the Seven Dials roundabout has just opened and an extension to the Goldstone Villas roastery is hot on its heels.

The new Seven Dials outlet is situated in a building that was once home to Barclays Bank, but recently vacated by a bar called Xuma. The building actually consists of what was originally a fairly standard Victorian end-of-terrace house and its large Edwardian ground floor extension of 1902. The extension features an open-topped pediment, fluted Ionic pilasters and egg-and-dart ornamentation. The Black Spread Eagle of Barclays has been etched onto the glass of each of the two main entrance doors.

The ground floor, basement and much of the exterior have been given a thorough makeover by my friend Paul Nicholson of Chalk Architecture. A Corten steel worktop is perhaps the centre-piece of the airy main area. This is surrounded by a scattering of Chalk’s bespoke coffee shop range of solid oak stools, and custom-made tables and counters. A new addition is a matching chair which, like the others, features the Small Batch dome logo.

The walls are lined with lots of reclaimed oak and a number of ‘antique’ mirrors (which have been aged with old teabags). The oak has been deliberately charred black in places. Paul says that is an allusion to the way in which timber was once treated on barns around Sussex. I think that he just likes burning stuff.

Regular readers know that I am a huge fan of the subterranean which explains why much of my visit to Small Batch was spent in the basement or, more precisely, the old vault. A long corridor in the basement leads to an incredibly thick steel door which guards a large room with thick concrete walls, floor and ceiling. In turn, this leads, via another thick door, into a smaller room where the cash was once kept by Barclays (and the bottles by Xuma). Each has been given the Chalk treatment and will soon be used as training areas.

I do happen to like the coffee at Small Batch but, if I didn’t, I would certainly go for the architecture.

Reims is the largest city in the Champagne region in the north-east of France. It is home to a number of the most famous champagne houses including Louis Roederer, Piper Heidsieck, Taittinger and Veuve Clicquot. I was lucky enough to partake in a tour of the vast hidden tunnels of G. H. Mumm, the Champagne house that is well known by all F1 fans.

Mumm was founded in 1827 by three German brothers from the Rhine Valley. The family kept their German citizenship which actually led to their property being confiscated by the French during the First World War, despite their huge contribution to France over the previous century.

Upon arriving at the Mumm estate, which is characterised by a series of attractive low-rise classically-inspired structures, we were shown into a generous reception area and then quickly ushered into a small cinema for a film about the firm’s history. We then descended a slim staircase into the first basement level.

At this depth, the various rooms and passages were stone-lined. A cheerful tour guide gave insight into how the grapes from the various fields which are owned by Mumm are turned into world-class champagne by blending, fermenting and cleaning. Our knowledge of champagne bottle sizes was put to the test (I got stuck at Nebuchadnezzar). The cellars at this point were unexpectedly cavernous, but nothing compared to what came next.

A tight spiral staircase took us down into a maze of storage tunnels that snake out beneath Reims in every direction. 25 million bottles are stored in the 25km network. One tunnel was 1km long. At this depth, the tunnels had simply been carved out of the chalk. A constant temperature of 11˚C and humidity of 85% are perfect for the purpose which they serve.

Some of the tunnels beneath Reims date back to Roman times though those of Mumm are not that old. It is fascinating that the historic buildings and tunnels have been integrated, side by side, into such a slick modern operation. The ‘CAVES’ button on a sleek steel elevator really hit this home.

The idea for a 2.5m high stone-clad plinth sprung from a conversation in the queue at the nearby King Alfred Leisure Centre between Helmut Lusser and Peter Seddon from Hove Civic Society and Sussex Public Sculpture Recording Project respectively.

If approved and completed, public works of art will grace the plinth much in the same way that Trafalgar Square’s Fourth Plinth has operated in recent years. Hove Civic Society will own, and presumably manage, the plinth but it will stand on public land. An outline agreement was made with the council on this point in January which means that the first hurdle has been cleared. Planning is likely to be a little trickier.

The plinth is to be situated right in the middle of the promenade and lined up with the centre of Grand Avenue. It will therefore be on exactly the same axis as the bronze statue of Queen Victoria of 1901 and Hove War Memorial, by Sir Edwin Lutyens, of 1921. I discovered that a not so pretty black bin on the promenade lines sits on this line as well which is why I have not provided any centralised images from the esplanade. It looked like a bin anyway. It might have been a piece of modern art.

Brighton-based design firm Millimetre is responsible for the rather attractive design of the plinth. The materials will be Nabresina stone, which is like Portland stone, and concrete. This will help it to cope with sculptures and art installations that weight up to 11 tonnes. Although it is to be traditional aesthetically, there will be gadgets galore. Fancy lights and even sound and motorisation bring the classic plinth into the 21st Century.

A number of letters of both support and objection have been received by Brighton & Hove City Council already. I am inclined to support the idea. It will slightly obscure views along the open esplanade but, if all goes to plan, the art will more than make up for it.

Hove Civic Society’s Karin Janzon told me a little about the charity’s plans for funding the project. Many arms will need to be twisted to raise the £50,000 that is required. Hopefully this will include a small sum to move the aforementioned offending bin.

St Luke’s Church was built in 1875 on the Old Shoreham Road. St Luke’s Church Hall – known fondly as Exeter Street Hall – was built around the corner nine years later, as confirmed by a ceremonial foundation stone on the building’s red-brick façade which was laid, presumably when construction was completed, on 6th May 1884.

It was at the end of 2011 that residents of Prestonville were informed by the Church that the hall was to be put up for sale – and soon afterwards that a community campaign sprang up to purchase the building for the public good. £200,000 was to be raised by selling shares to anybody who wanted to chip in. Hundreds of people got involved. But the deadline was tight and it was an awful lot of cash to find in such a short space of time.

I was shown around by campaigner Peter Golton, a resident of Exeter Street (and physics teacher at BHASVIC), who introduced me to Paul Winter who got the whole operation going in the first place. Leaflets were being batched, banners folded and lists checked. It was a highly-organised chaos in the kitchen behind.

The front of the building consists of the main hall, which is situated between separate entrances for boys and girls. These doorways presumably date back to the original Sunday School. A multitude of gables (I counted ten) and medieval-themed fireplaces clearly define the building’s style as Gothic.

A trap-door in the floor close to the boys’ entrance was simply dying to be lifted. It came up fairly easily, at which point a small crowd gathered to see what was below. It had clearly been explored before by successive tradesmen as electricity cables and gas pipes can be seen zigzagging across the cavity below. It is fairly deep though and itching to be navigated properly.

When I visited, an impressive £138,850 had been raised with only around one week to go. A flood of last-minute share applications, and a £50,000 reduction in the selling price, meant that the hall was saved.

Visit to www.exeterstreethall.org to see what is planned.

A large single dwelling replaced the two of them, and a house on Wyndham Street behind, in 1932. Bright stucco made way for red bricks in an area that is nationally-renowned for its white and cream facades. I was intrigued to look around this most unique building.

The owners, Bruce Gibson and Nasir Badshah, completed a major renovation of the building around five years ago that included restoration and reinvention in equal measures. The clay-tiled roof, and its ornate terracotta finials, are new. The double-glazed sash windows (which replaced inappropriate aluminium replacements) and their Bath Stone sills are new. The guttering (which has been uprated to zinc) and downpipes are new. A whole new house has even been added to the rear, fronting onto Wyndham Street, which works well as it fills what was an unwelcome gap. The generous front garden is where the sun is anyway.

The front door is on the side of the building and is reached via a short flight of terrazzo steps with chequered inserts (similar to those throughout the Sussex Masonic Centre of 1928 on Queen’s Road). The layout is quirky as the rooms essentially wrap around an open central staircase. The ground and first floors lend themselves well to entertaining spaces. There is even a fully-ventilated smoking room. The second floor has bedrooms and an office. Best of all is the immense basement which features a massive bedroom, along with a luxurious travertine-clad sauna and hot tub complex.

The house was the residence of Oliver Dalton who owned the Palace Pier and who was the namesake of Dalton’s Bastion which is where the Brighton Wheel is located. This is rather fitting as the eye is immediately drawn towards both the Pier and Wheel from most of the windows on the front and side of the building.

Solid oak beams, floral fireplaces and mouldings, and medieval-style door furniture suggest Arts & Crafts as the building’s predominant style. Yet geometric brick patterns, a classically-inspired engaged portico with scrolled pediment and pilasters, and an elegant iron balcony suggest Art Deco. Single-pane sashes, of which this building has many, are famously Victorian.

65 Marine Parade is a real mix of styles and it all adds up to one of the finest homes in Brighton & Hove.