Progress on Madeira Terrace and the seafront lanterns
The long wait for progress on the restoration of Madeira Terrace and the seafront lampposts may well be coming to an end with extensive work now taking place on Madeira Terrace, and new seafront lanterns for the cast iron lampposts have now been on display.
The work on dismantling the terrace started at the beginning of 2025. J T Mackley, based in Henfield, were appointed the main contractor and for financial reasons the first phase of restoration was restricted to the 28 arches between Royal Crescent steps and Concorde 2.
Phase 1 of the eventual complete restoration of the terrace will consist of repair and renovation of the 28
arches made up of cast and wrought iron; replacement of the upper deck with a waterproof deck and new balustrades and infrastructure for shades and canopies; painting with a system to withstand the coastal conditions; refacing and regreening the retaining wall; a new lift to provide improved access and a new staircase down from the deck near Concorde2; reinstatement of the planted verges at Madera Drive level and restoration of the seating to the upper deck.
The initial works on the main structure consisted of removal of the decking and dismantling the cast and wrought iron beams, columns, spandrel arches and trusses. All these parts of the structure were then sent to a specialist foundry for testing, repair and painting. On completion the parts will be sent back to Madeira Drive for re-erection. Figure 1 shows the terrace in mid-2025 with all the decking removed and seven bays dismantled.
The aim is to repair and reuse the existing material and avoid recasting new sections. This will limit the scheme’s environmental impact. Repairing cast iron by welding is a highly skilled process and depends on keeping temperatures at specified levels.
Repairing cast iron with a welding process has only become achievable in recent years and is very dependent on highly skilled foundries. This is why all the parts of the structure have had to be transported to a specialised foundry based at some distance from Brighton. Each piece has to be cleaned, tested by X-ray and visually examined to see whether it will be strong enough after welding. A decision is then made to repair or to recast. It is then returned to Madeira Drive for re-erection.
The council’s website suggests that the 28 restored arches could be back in place in mid-2026. This may be optimistic; however, the activity does suggest that we are heading for a partly restored Madeira Terrace.
And with luck we may be seeing an improvement with the seafront lampposts that have looked neglected for so years. Many have had unsuitable cheap lights bolted onto the posts. However, in October the new reproduction lantern went on exhibition in the Jubilee Library (Fig. 2). These will be fitted to restored and refurbished brackets and lampposts.
Figure 3 shows the work starting in December with a lamppost being removed from the seafront. Five columns were removed and were taken to Cast Irion Welding Services in the Midlands, who are experts in the restoration of historic architectural cast iron.
The lanterns, brackets and posts will be connected back together after restoration and will be transported back to Brighton for re-erection on the sea front. So we could at last see some improvements in our sea front.
