Karis, the developer behind the controversial King Alfreddevelopment in Hove, has been accused of breaching its Section 106agreement after confirming that Frank Gehry has left the scheme.Last week, Karis boss Josh Arghiros ended months of speculationabout Gehry`s role on the £290 million seafront development byannouncing that the project had been handed over to executive architectHOK. Speaking to the Brighton Argus, Arghiros added that he had notspoken to the Canadian architect `since just after Christmas`.Now,local anti-development campaign group Save Hove has claimed thatGehry`s exit contravened a clause in the Section 106 agreement betweenKaris and Brighton and Hove Council, signed last July.The clausereads: `{The} developer hereby agrees it will use reasonable endeavoursto retain Gehry Partners and HOK as project architects.` Thenews alarmed CABE. The body said it stands by its 2006 design review ofthe leisure centre and 750-apartment plans, which stated: `It isessential that the care of architectural thought is carried through todetailed design and implementation, so we are pleased to note that thearchitect will be retained throughout the process.`However,Karis spokeswoman Heather Price was `not overly concerned` by theaccusations. She said: `It has always been our intention that HOK wouldtake the scheme forward and the council was aware of that.``Thedifficult thing for Gehry was the way the British system works. Hewould want to develop the design until it started on site. {But} wejust don`t have that flexibility,` she said.
www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/dailynews/2008/07/gehrys_king_alfred_exit_breaches_section_106_agreement.html;jsessionid=B0A706F4B3100DE7BE7898EFDC889B81