A PEMBROKE DOCK town councillor exchanged contracts with Milford Haven Port Authority on Friday, September 25, to complete the purchase of Fort Hubberstone, which overlooks Gelliswick Bay and the Haven Waterway.
Guy Anderson, a project manager who designs electrical installations for major global construction projects, including football and Olympic stadia, spoke to The Herald about his plans for the iconic building.
The Fort is a Grade II* Listed Building and one of a number built along the Haven during the 1850s and 1860s. Together with Popton Fort on the opposite shore, it provided an interlocking field of fire and represented the last layer of defence before reaching the Royal Naval dockyard at Pembroke Dock.
“I grew up in Pembroke, I went to Pembroke School and Carmarthenshire College. When I was growing up, I used to walk around the area looking at the second world sites and the forts along the Haven.
“My work has taken me around the world, but this has always been my home. Every time I’ve come back to Pembrokeshire, I’ve always been frustrated to see so much of our local heritage locked up and inaccessible to people.”
We asked about the size of the challenge he faced and Guy Anderson told us: “I’m used to working on massive projects for stadia around the world. This is, if you think about it, just a small derelict stadium in need of TLC.
“I’m not rebuilding anything. The idea is to make the fort safe to work in first and then carry out work to make it safe for the public to come to as a ‘managed ruin’.
“I reckon rebuilding something like the fort would take a minimum of seven million pounds. You’d never get any sort of return on that. I plan to open the fort up to the public to allow them free access to its grounds, as far as can safely be done.
“Buildings like these are white elephants, the cost of redeveloping them is prohibitive. I’m not going to redevelop or rebuild. I am going to clear the site to provide the public with access to their heritage.
Mr Anderson told us that he plans to have the first part of the project open to the public in around two years.
“Covid’s thrown the timing a little off but I believe the nine gun casemates, the gun towers overlooking the Bay, can be cleared and made safe for people to get into in two years. We’ll put some explainers in and tables for people to sit and have a picnic and overlook the river. Ideally, we’d like schools to be able to visit and see the buildings and we’re going to preserve as much of the wildlife in the fort as we can.”
As for funding, Guy Anderson told us the project was being funded from his own resources and that any approach for public or heritage funding would depend on the future progress of the project and what sort of experience people wanted when they visited.
He said: “The casemates will take two years. It will take two years’ planning to put together how to deal with the upper fort, the large D-shaped structure that dominates the site. We won’t know until that is cleared what we have to work with and what will be possible. I’m optimistic that the condition is not as bad as people believe. I’m told its one of the five most endangered buildings in the country; I’d say I can find five buildings in worse condition in Pembrokeshire.”
Responding to the news the fort had been sold, local Town and County Councillor Viv Stoddart said: “I am delighted that the Fort now has a future and the plans will benefit the local community by allowing them to experience our heritage first hand.”