Former Portsmouth bottling store has been transformed into housing in a key project for the city

Today, Councillor Steve Pitt, the leader of Portsmouth City Council, inaugurated Brewery House – a housing project by Ravelin Housing Ltd, the council’s wholly-owned development company. The listed building now offers 13 two-bedroom and four one-bedroom apartments, with four units designated as “affordable housing”, available for rent at 80 per cent of the market value.

Councillor Steve Pitt emphasised the uniqueness of the scheme, prioritising key worker housing — a crucial element in attracting essential skills to the city.

“It’s vital that as a council that we deliver more council housing but it’s not the only solution for solving the housing crisis,” he said.

“In Portsmouth historically there’s been very very little private rented sector housing of this nature being developed.

“We want to demonstrate to the housing market that it is financially viable to do this in Portsmouth and there is demand for it.

“It’s a great landmark project, it was set up to disrupt the market and I believe that’s exactly what it would do.”

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The project adheres to rigorous environmental standards, featuring low-carbon insulation and a communal air source heat pump system. The bottling store, once part of Long and Co Southsea Ltd, founded in 1814 by William Tollervey, was acquired by Brickwoods Ltd in 1933.

Tom Southall, managing director of Ravelin Housing Ltd, expressed the company’s broader ambition to build 1,000 homes over the next 10 years.

“Ravelin has a role in helping the city deliver some of its difficult sites so I would love to think it has a role in the likes of the city centre development and other projects,” he said.

“It’s the council’s way of getting the biggest bang for its buck and really trying to deliver those difficult sites and to demonstrate to the market that you can do things differently and it works.”