Portsmouth 'rabbit hutch' flats listed for £825 rent a month at former office block - but prove popular

Former office block Brunel House, opposite Gunwharf Quays at The Hard, Portsea, is being converted into 143 small studio flats after years of disuse and disrepair.

But the agent for the building has said ‘demand is high' and there looks to be no problem finding tenants following completion next year.

Development rules meant that no permission was needed for the conversion, apart from alterations to the exterior of the building. This was given in August.

Bernards letting agents website said it is the ‘highly anticipated, new development of student accommodation’.

Some of the flats are around 19sq m in size.

Daniel Byrne, from Bernards, said interest from a listing taken down following building delays due to Covid received a ‘very, very favourable' response.

Mr Byrne said the owners are a good quality developer, and said: ‘Demand is high for the apartments, and we don’t envisage problems getting them occupied.’

But Labour councillor Cal Corkery has criticised the conversion and pricing.

The Charles Dickens ward member told The News: ‘The works are being undertaken under Tory planning reforms which allow developers to convert office blocks to flats without any minimum space standards whatsoever.

‘Most of the units are tiny at just 19 square metres, around half the size required of new builds.

‘Cramming people into such cramped conditions is not a recipe for healthy and cohesive communities.

‘To top it all off the flats have been marketed at rents well out of reach of those on low incomes, so not only are they sub-standard in terms of space they are also completely unaffordable for many local people.

Posting on Twitter, Labour’s Tom Coles added: ‘That's just an overpriced rabbit hutch. That wouldn't be good for your mental health.’

The most basic one-bed flats in Gunwharf Quays are being marketed from £552 to £725 a month to rent, along with more expensive apartments. Rents start at £450 a month in Southsea for studios.

Portsmouth City Council leader Gerald Vernon-Jackson previously said the site would create ‘slums of the future’.

As reported, 44 flats in the conversion meet the government’s 37 sq m minimum size rule for new homes. Most measure 19 or 29 sq m.

Representatives of Makepeace Investments Ltd have been contacted.

A University of Portsmouth spokesman said: ‘Brunel House is an independent scheme in the city led by a private developer. The university has not been involved with this development.

He added there is help for students to find a place to live and added: ‘We are concerned that accommodation which is available to students is of a good quality and is affordable. However, the decision where to live ultimately rests with individual students.’

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