Hall & Woodhouse sells Old Brewery for housing redevelopment

03-Jul-2017 - Last updated on 04-Jul-2017 at 08:42 GMT

Out with the old: the Old Brewery will house 180 homes

Hall & Woodhouse has sold the Old Brewery, which is part of its brewery site in Dorset, to the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA).

The area on the site at Blandford St Mary has been redundant since Hall & Woodhouse completed its move to the New Brewery on another part of the site.

The Dorset brewer has invested more than £17m in its brewing, warehousing and packaging operations and offices in recent years.

The HCA, which is a Government housing delivery agency, will work with selected partners to carry out a residential redevelopment of the Old Brewery.

It plans to start the redevelopment in early 2018 and works are anticipated to take about three years to complete.

Hall & Woodhouse MD Anthony Woodhouse outlined how the funds from the sale will be put back in to the business to ensure the company remains in the area.

Transform the old

He said: “This is a true brownfield site and the HCA has the skill set to be able to transform the old buildings and land into a quality residential development.

“The money from the sale will be reinvested in the growth areas of our business and will help ensure that we remain brewing in Blandford St Mary for many years to come.”

Bruce Voss from the HCA laid out plans for the area, which will retain the original buildings' Victorian style.

Retain and refurbish

He said: “We plan to create around 180 homes including affordable housing at the brownfield former brewery site, which already has planning consent.

“We will retain and refurbish the core Victorian brewery buildings. It is a fantastic setting, looking over the River Stour and water meadows and a few minutes walk from Blandford town centre, and will be a great place to live.

“We have work to do on the demolition and installation of infrastructure to unlock this site, which will take most of 2018, and the new homes will come forward immediately after that.”

Meanwhile, Woodhouse told The Morning Advertiser’s sister title MCA in 2015 that the company was focusing on growing accommodation income, as it reported profit growth in excess of 10% for the third consecutive year.