Rebuilding starts on stripped-down pier

The restoration of Hastings Pier has moved into a new phase. Following the removal of the ruined ballroom at the pier head, it now has a stripped-down look – along almost its whole length there is hardly anything to be seen on the deck apart from the surviving building at the land end. Nick Terdre reports.

The ballroom has gone, the last bits above the deck were removed last Saturday, Hastings Pier Charity CEO Simon Opie told HOT. “There’s a little bit of tidying up to do, but effectively the demolition phase is over.”

So is this the first time the pier has presented this appearance since it was built nearly 150 years ago? “The profile of the pier now is very different from when Eugenius Birch built it, it’s been widened and had bits added onto it,” Simon said. “But I’d imagine this is probably the first time for a very long time there’s been nothing at the pier head. When the original oriental pavilion burnt down in 1917, I guess there was nothing at the pier head then.”

The jack-up barge which assisted in the preparatory work for the ballroom demolition in the wake of the damage caused by the famous, or infamous, February storm, eventually left in mid October. There is still extensive work to be done on the sub-structure, Simon said – on 1 December refurbishment of the steelwork at the pier head is due to start.

But rebuilding is also getting going. “The works you can see going on at the moment about two thirds of the way down, that’s preparing the steelwork around the site for the visitors’ centre,” said Simon. And work to turn the surviving building into a restaurant is well under way.

“There is a large number of engineers working on the pier at present,” he said. “Hopefully it’s encouraging for people to see the progress.”

All photos by John Cole.

See also Jackup barge comes to pier’s assistance.

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