17 East Street
Littlehampton
West Sussex BN17 6AT
CONTRACT COMPLETION DATE 22nd April 2026
Former Waitrose Supermarket, 17 East Street, Littlehampton, West Sussex BN17 6AT.
Mid 1980’s town centre former supermarket arranged mainly over ground and first floors, totalling 2,456 sq. m (26,445 sq. ft) with an adjacent service road and open-air car park with 96 spaces. The site slopes down from west to east, so the loading bay area is below the main ground floor area. The site is part of an island surrounded by main roads in the centre of town. Adjacent properties vary and include residential, utility and commercial properties.
The former Waitrose, which closed in 2015.
View westwards along Anchor Springs
East elevation and loading bay
View westwards along Avon Road
The former Waitrose has been vacant since its closure in 2015. Premier Inn owners Whitbread plan to redevelop the site into a 130-bedroom hotel, with an associated restaurant, parking and landscaping. Whitbread’s proposed redevelopment seeks to revitalise this prominent location, bringing it into long-term use and enhancing the town centre, while meeting the growing demand for high-quality, affordable hotel accommodation on the south coast.
The proposed new Premier Inn (Images: Axiom Architects)
View westwards along Anchor Springs
View westwards along Avon Road
Dorton Demolition & Excavation Limited (Dde) were awarded the demolition and enabling works contract through competitive tendering.
Summary of the demolition and enabling works package:
1. Conduct a detailed pre-demolition waste audit to identify materials for recovery, reuse, and recycling which will feed into and be monitored against the BREEAM report.
2. Notify WSCC of the intended demolition.
3. Anchor Springs bus stops were suspended during the initial stages of the demolition contract and relocated to the junction of High Street and Church Street.
4. Apply for the temporary suspension of bus stops.
5. Apply for on-street temporary parking bay suspensions to allow regular bus access through the relocated bus route.
6. Inform local businesses / residents of the temporary bus stops and parking bay arrangements.
7. Provide and manage temporary traffic and diversion signing.
8. Apply for footway closures and lane narrowing along site boundaries.
9. Conduct a schedule of conditions of existing neighbouring properties, roads, footways, and street furniture.
10. Manage the disconnection and capping of services primarily electricity, BT Openreach, water and drainage systems.
11. Communicate with the appropriate resident/business to notify them of the impending works.
12. Secure site boundaries with Heras type fencing and pedestrian barriers with signage.
View eastwards along Avon Road
East Street
View eastwards along Anchor Springs
13. Temporary free-standing timber hoarding erected prior to re-opening the bus stops.
14. Removal of asbestos contaminated materials.
15. Demolition scaffolds and crash decks.
16. Dust suppression.
17. Soft strip and demolition of the former Waitrose building including the ground floor slab. Foundations to be retained.
18. Waste demolition arisings removed from site.
19. A supplementary ground investigation was to be undertaken once a large section of the existing floor slab has been removed, to finalise the foundation design for the new build. Preliminary ground investigation was undertaken in June 2024, but some windowless sampling boreholes refused between depths of 0.41m and 2.06m below ground level due to the presence of concrete obstructions. The underlying concrete obstructions were too deep to be able to core.
Key challenges
1. LinesearchbeforeUdig (LSBUD), Scotia Gas Networks (SGN) asset plans, historic survey/ inspection plans, and an underground utility survey of the site did not record a gas supply to the former Waitrose supermarket.
A live gas supply was found in a small, locked cellar room at the northeastern end of the building. Dde arranged for the removal of the gas meters by the gas meter asset manager, disconnection and purging of the outlet pipe network, and termination of the gas mains supply to outside the site boundary.
2. A piled solution was considered most suitable for the new build. Dde was given an instruction for the removal of the existing foundations and pile cropping (if piles are present). Locations of the piles was to be recorded, providing coordinates, spacing, and top levels. Voids and excavations to be backfilled with recycled aggregate in compacted layers.
Makeup of the substructure was a raised precast concrete plank system supported on suspended ground beams of mixed construction spanning between pile caps which also supported columns. The pile caps were raised over historic secondary concrete slabs believed to be from previous buildings on the site. The site history lists historic residential buildings and former Southdown bus garage.Memories of the Southdown bus garage (https://www.sussexexpress.co.uk/)
“Southdown bus garage opened in East Street, Littlehampton in 1926. Southdown decided to close the Littlehampton garage after service on November 21, 1971. The garage itself was used by Southdown to store delicensed buses, until it was finally demolished 13 years later in March 1985, making way for a supermarket. Today (December 2024), the site is abandoned with an empty building, last used by Waitrose”.
Precast concrete plank system supported on ground beams of mixed sizes and construction
Historic secondary concrete slabs
Pile caps and pile cropping
Pile plotting
Buried structures and old foundations including a service pit were uncovered and removed.
Operating demolition rigs from raised working platforms.
Perimeter ground and raised beams within the footprint of the proposed new building were broken out in small sections. Piles were exposed and cropped down to the underside of the proposed pile mat, and sections backfilled with recycled aggregate to a 1:3 berm, compacted in 150mm layers. Ground level perimeter beams outside the proposed footprint were retained, with the top of the concrete scabbled 300mm – 500mm below the surrounding footpath level.
3. Temporary suspension and relocation of Anchor Springs bus stops. West Sussex County Council agreed a suspension until Monday 26th January 2026. This implied a phased demolition approach to clear and complete all areas adjacent the bus stops prior to this deadline date. The whole process was successfully completed, and the bus stops re-opened on schedule.
Resumed bus service
Completion
Achievements and accreditations
The demolition site was registered with the Considerate Constructors Scheme (CCS) and achieved an ‘Excellent’ performance level rating.
Safety Record: Maintained an exemplary safety record throughout the project, with zero reportable incidents. Regular health, safety and environmental site audits were carried out by the client to ensure compliance and conformance with Whitbread Contractor Standards. There were no non-compliances identified.
Excellent recommendations were received from the Considerate Constructor monitoring officer appertaining to health, safety and wellbeing of our workforce and considerations given to the public, local community and environment.
Site Security: Implemented mobile patrol security measures during the Christmas and New Year period, to safeguard the site and surrounding areas. Concrete road barriers were used to prevent unauthorised access into the welfare compound.
Waste Statistics: 99% of waste was recycled contributing to the project’s sustainability goals.
ISO certifications: ISO 9001, 14001 and 45001 certified through the British Assessment Bureau, demonstrating our commitment to quality, environmental management and occupational health and safety.
NFDC membership: As members of the National Federation of Demolition Contractors, we adhere to the highest industry standards.
Looking to the future
A groundbreaking event for a new Premier Inn hotel being built in Littlehampton was held on Monday, 11th May 2026. Construction is now underway and it is hoped that the hotel will open as planned in early autumn 2027.
