Medina House is a building located on the seafront of Hove

Hove

Hove is a town on the south coast of England, immediately to the west of its larger neighbour Brighton, with which it forms the unitary authority Brighton and Hove. It forms a single conurbation together with Brighton and some smaller towns and villages running along the coast...

, Sussex

Sussex

Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. After falling into disuse it was squatted

Squatting

Squatting consists of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied space or building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have permission to use....

 for several years. During this period the property owner, Sirus Taghan, agreed that the occupants could remain, so long as the property was kept in the same condition as before occupation. It was finally evicted in September 2006, although it was re-occupied for a week at the end of January 2007. There are now plans to develop the building.

History

Medina House was built as a Turkish bath and subsequently owned by a diamond cutter. In the Second World War it saw service as a makeshift hospital.

Squatted

In 1999, the building was squatted by a group of artists known as the Chalk Circle who used the space for exhibitions. It was squatted until 2006, when it was evicted owing to complaints about noise and rubbish. The squatters appealed against the decision but were evicted. City councillors had been campaigning for four years over the problems.
The occupants of the building pd a small rental but it soon became out of control, turning into a squat.
In 2007, the building was briefly re-squatted.
The squatters were evicted and a fire prohibition order was then placed on the building.

Development

Sirus Taghan plans to demolish Medina House and build a new tower block. He first put in a planning application for an 18 storey building in 2002, but this was rejected. Subsequently he planned a smaller tower but never put in a formal application. Taghan's latest proposal for Sirus Tower is a 12 storey building, which would house 25 flats.