Former Southsea bottling store Brewery House is being converted into 17 new homes

Brewery House, originally Long & Co’s Brewery bottling store in Southsea, celebrated its ‘topping out’ milestone earlier this month as construction reached its highest point. The locally-listed building in Hambrook Street is being restored and brought back to life to offer 17 new and environmentally friendly homes.

This is the first development of its kind by Portsmouth City Council's wholly owned development company, Ravelin Housing, which was established to speed up the recovery of Portsmouth's broken housing markets by delivering private and affordable housing for sale and rent.

The topping out event celebrated the new roof rafters taking shape, adding an additional floor to the original building. The four-storey high building will create 13 two-bedroom apartments and four one-bedroom apartments. The profits from this and other Ravelin developments will be used to support council services.

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The topping out event was marked by Councillor Steve Pitt, cabinet member for culture, leisure, and economic development, the council’s development and Ravelin teams, and the project’s local contractor, Ascia Construction.

Councillor Pitt said: ‘This is a really exciting achievement in the development process, and I am pleased to see the progress that’s been made in the project. It is a big milestone for Ravelin Housing and fantastic that we can secure the future of this much-loved, historic local building to provide new, good quality homes in Portsmouth. It shows how we can sensitively convert disused buildings, secure their future as homes, and support vital council services as well as the city's economic growth.’

Kevin Hudson, development manager at Ravelin Housing, said: ‘The Brewery House development is a good example of how we can deliver housing through the innovative, yet sensitive development of a disused heritage asset. The building will have its historic, industrial character preserved whilst providing a modern contemporary appearance to complement its future long-term use.’

The 17 new homes are expected to be available to rent from early 2023 and they will be professionally managed to offer longer-term tenancies. The privately-let apartments will be marketed through a local management agency, with four flats specifically set aside for key workers in the city at an affordable market rent.