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UC Haslar Heritage
Boundary Wall
1 / 3
Along the north side of Haslar Road, the boundary walls of UC Haslar Heritage Gunboat Yard had long stood as sentinels to a working past. Raised in 1856 as part of the original gunboat shed complex, the high red brick wall, laid in Flemish bond, defined the edge of a site shaped by industry, vigilance, and the demands of the Royal Navy. Its watchtower and gates completed a perimeter that once controlled movement and protected assets of national importance.
Time, exposure, and piecemeal alterations had taken their toll. Listed on the Heritage at Risk Register by Historic England, the wall required careful intervention, not to change its purpose, but to keep it standing safely and truthfully.
Client
Qinetiq
Dates
7 Aug 2023
—
26 Jun 2024
Location
Hampshire, England
Grade listing
Grade II
Architects
Giles Pritchard
Steadying a Fragile Boundary
DBR Southern was commissioned to undertake specialist conservation repairs to stabilise and conserve the historic fabric. The brief was clear: arrest deterioration, safeguard the public, and respect the wall’s original materials and methods.
Skilled bricklayers began with repointing using traditional lime mortar, restoring the joints’ ability to move and breathe. Where bedding had failed, areas were redbedded, and missing or severely spalled bricks were carefully replaced with new units matched in size, colour, and texture to the originals. Cracks were stitched in accordance with the Structural Engineer’s specifications, quietly reinstating long-term stability without visual intrusion.
Clearing the Burden of the Past
As conservation progressed, attention turned to later additions that had begun to harm the fabric they clung to. Redundant and corroded metal fixings were removed where they were forcing movement or causing decay. Obsolete services and cabling were carefully extracted, decluttering the elevations and relieving pressure on the masonry.
Vegetation rooted in joints and ledges was removed from the brickwork and surrounding areas. With it went trapped moisture and the risk of further damage, allowing the wall to dry and settle back into equilibrium.
Restoring the Watchtower’s Profile
The watchtower received focused structural remedial works. Its slate roof was repaired and renewed using salvaged Welsh slate, chosen to match the existing material and retain the tower’s historic silhouette. Elsewhere, modern cast concrete pier caps, introduced during earlier repairs were removed. In their place, Portland stone caps were handcrafted by DBR’s in-house stonemasons, restoring a material language more faithful to the wall’s origins.
Damaged stonework to the piers was likewise replaced with new stone carefully selected to match the original, ensuring continuity of appearance and performance.
When the works concluded, the wall read as a coherent whole once more, brickwork sound, details reinstated, the watchtower steady. Purposeful, restrained interventions strengthened what time had weakened. At Haslar, a boundary built to protect now stood protected itself, conserved and secured for the future.
