East Cowes town councillors were recently invited to a tour of the restoration work taking place at Victoria Barracks as part of the East Cowes Regeneration.
As part of the £5.8 million ‘Levelling Up’ funding for the area, work at the former barracks — built in 1872 to accommodate Queen Victoria’s troops — is now well underway, led by ERMC.
New home for UKSA
Vice-Chairman of Isle of Wight council, Councillor Karl Love, was joined by East Cowes Town Councillors as they toured the building, which will become an education and training facility for UKSA.
In recent years the barracks had fallen into disrepair, but were used during the Covid Lockdown for the production of feature feature The Beast Must Die.
Love: Delighted the building is being restored
Councillor Love told News OnTheWight,
“The building is being regenerated along with the Albany Green and Bells Landing, which was used by the Royal family and other nobles in bygone times.
“The government allocated 5.5 million of funding from the levelling up grants towards this building, the columbine building and public realm.
“I’m delighted that the building, once threatened with demolition, is being restored and I would hope to see the building upgrade from the Conservation Area listing to a Listed Building.”
Councillors also took the time to tour the Columbine Building famed for many inventions and home today of Wight Shipyard, a World-leading shipbuilder.
Councillor Love added,
“I’m truly delighted to see the works being carried out and the regeneration that is bringing community green spaces to our ship builders and town as a whole.”
