Beach Hut Design Ideas

Milford on Sea Community Centre was a hive of activity yesterday as hoards people came to see the New Forest District Council present the new design ideas for the 119 beach huts on Milford on Sea promenade.

Since the devastating storm in February 2014, debates have raged as to what should happen with the future of the beach huts. Decisions to replace were made, and now things are under-way to decide what they will look like.

The presentation was made by Paul Bulkeley of Snug Architects, and he was supported by Helen Baker of Ramboll, Parish Councillor Sophie Beaton, & Steve Cook and Colin Read from NFDC.

Replacing the beach huts came with obvious limitations in terms of the height and footprint, so in the editorial office here (our lounge!) expectation were relatively low.

Well, I must make a note to myself to not be so dismissive of what creative designers can achieve.

click image to enlarge

Serious journalism is of course unbiased, but as these pages are written by a amateur hack, there is no hesitation to show bias. 

So on that theme, we have only included a picture of Option A & B. There is an Option C, but as this simply turns the huts 180 degrees for the roof to slope the other way, and is really not very exciting, so we have excluded it!

In April 2015 these pages published an article which suggested that the promenade could be extended onto the beach hut roofs - click here to read. We expected this to fall on deaf ears, but either someone read it and agreed, or quite simply great minds... and all that. Either way, it is a pleasure to see this design concept included as an option.

There are also some creative and colourful ideas for the front facades and cladding. (Ignore 'Option C' unless you want the seafront to look pretty drab in the winter!)

In addition to this, there are also new ideas for the ramp near The White House, and a clever idea to frame the magnificent panoramic views.

To view presentation click here

Whether you are a supporter of the beach huts being replaced or not, it has been decided that they are coming back, so now is the time to have your say on what they should look like. 

Part of the massive charm of Milford on Sea is it being a living seaside village with a thriving community, natural beauty, and retaining some of the feeling of a bye-gone era. However, the old beach huts cannot come back, so we must look to the future.

The NFDC and Snug Architects have certainly given us all some interesting concepts to consider, for which they deserve praise. 

There is now a real opportunity to make the beach huts on the seafront look contemporary and stylish, which can only be good for tourism and all the businesses that benefit from the visitors to Milford on Sea. Plus of course, a final design that all of the local people can enjoy when visiting the seafront.

There is now a video available giving a shortened version of the presentations made by NFDC, and it is also the place where you can express your views -  please click here.