Overstrand Building, with pods to both sides of the central facilities
Pod interior
Proleno Blog noted that Wayne and Geraldine Hemingway were commissioned by Bournemouth Borough Council to revive the dilapidated 1958 Overstrand building and Grade II listed Boscombe Pier of 1889. Not surprisingly, seaside regeneration was always one of the favourite goals of the Hemingways. You can see that the centre of the Overstrand will be the public areas: shops, restaurant and surf school. On each wing, to the left and right, stretch the rows of pods.
A single beach pod will cost a fortune (£90,000) but unlike the old beach huts, will have mains electricity, hot and cold running water, kitchen units and French doors leading onto a small private balcony overlooking the beach, but no fridges. To prevent people sleeping overnight in the pods, power will be switched off at night. Each pod has one wall that is a piece of retro, coastal art in its own right.
Boscombe has indeed reinvented the beach hut.
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6 comments:
Would power going off really stop people living in them?
It is a bit strange, if you ask me. Who are they worried about? Not the wealthy families who can afford £90,000 for a pod. Perhaps their drunken layabout teenage children, down from university for the holidays. In which case, they won't give a toss about not having a fridge at night. If it is a fear of outsiders breaking in and sleeping in a clean spot, then it is a security issue!
I am very glad they renovated both the Overstrand building and the Boscombe Pier. It would have been a crime to have left them decay. But goodness the pods are expensive, aren't they? It would have been much cheaper to build more of the old beach huts.
Local councils in Britain have always wanted to prevent people living in beach huts (for all kinds of reasons including the huts not having proper services - rubbish collection etc - and because residents wouldn't have an address so the council wouldn't be able to charge local taxes).
The pods are expensive, true. But so are beach huts. There are certainly plenty of people who've paid this sort of money for a wooden beach hut. Owners can charge a lot because huts are in demand and there are only so many to go around - although since the recession prices must have gone down quite a lot.
What great photos! Thanks so much for the advice! Best Beaches Melbourne and make your day wonderful.
Philip
Same story everywhere, I am guessing. In the 1960s I really wanted to own a beach hut, somewhere around Port Phillip Bay south of Melbourne. But even if more were built over the years, it was always going to be far too expensive. A tiny beach box was sold for $650,000 on South Beach, Mornington Peninsula in 2021!
Abhika
Boscombe Beach Hut Association wrote: It is often said that traditional beach huts capture the best of the British seaside. The Beach Pods in Boscombe were designed to take the beach hut to the next level. Pod owners were allowed to have their beach pod custom-built, with running water and electricity. The redevelopment scheme provides many activities: water sports, sports on the court, classes available, equipment hire, alfresco dining in restaurants, cafes and live entertainment.
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