Derelict 150-year-old Royal Navy Rum Store in Gosport set to be transformed

The News, Portsmouth

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00:00So Ben, can you describe in this building which of the historical significant parts

00:19are going to be kept during the reservation and which parts are of reasonable repair do

00:24you think?

00:25So the brickwork essentially will remain along with the windows which will be all repaired.

00:32The timber frames around the roof area and the roof itself will all be repaired and restored

00:39and the floors will all be restored.

00:45So most of the original structure will be retained.

00:48Let's go to the other parts of the building and we'll see if you could describe along

00:53your way what parts of the building were used for specific purposes.

00:59So this was the first section of the building that was built, this was the earliest section

01:04of the building, this was used for warehousing, you see it's very open plan, some wonderful

01:10features like the fire doors and this was built around 1780.

01:20The other sections of the building being modified and built on to this section later on.

01:30Can I just show that door for a second?

01:39So Ben, on your right hand side is where the rum used to be stored with the building and

01:44this structure here was where the roof was that had to be taken down.

01:48That's correct, yes, this main section here and behind was all where the rum was stored

01:54for the Navy.

01:55It's all fireproof, the building was fire-retardant to make sure that there was no issues with

02:03the rum itself.

02:04Originally, there would have been three storeys and when UKDOC purchased the site in 2019

02:11there was two floors, a flat roof, an asphalt roof, which was under a bad state of repair.

02:20So we removed the roof and the first floor and what you see now is an open building that's

02:27dry out to a degree with the original beam structures still in place.

02:57This was the main storage area for the rum.

03:27That ceiling floor at the moment is a bit too interesting.

03:30I really don't like it.

04:27I believe a lot of the windows are being repaired because the timber that was sourced back when

04:38they were originally built is a lot better than the timber that you can source today.

04:42So rather than building brand new windows, they're repairing the old ones to keep the

04:46original timber.

04:57So Ben, can you describe this model here because it's obviously a 3D printed version of the

05:03rum store just outside.

05:05So this is the rum store as you said in its current condition, a 3D printed image.

05:11The roof that you see there is a flat roof that was put on by the MOD in the 80s and

05:20no longer exists because the building was derelict and in not good condition.

05:26We took the roof off, the current flat roof off, and that helped it to breathe and dry

05:34out to a degree and prevented some further disrepair.

05:38And the plan is to restore the third floor and bring it back to almost its original condition

05:49with some slight modifications including a rooftop terrace and bar.

05:54And that will regenerate the building and bring it back to life.

06:00So the building's pretty much sat since the 70s, not used to it very much.

06:06What's the condition of the building like currently and how much work will be done to fix it?

06:11There's a lot of work to be done.

06:13All of the windows need repairing and the flat roof needs reinstalling as a floor.

06:22The third tier needs to be rebuilt along with the rooftop terrace and bar.

06:28And it's about a two year program from start to finish.

06:33And we'll see the building restored and in a condition that it can be leased for commercial use.

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