Bid to turn former records office into arts hub to go before cabinet
The council will decide next week id the records office can become an asset of community value
The future of the former Records Office in Portsmouth will be decided next week as conservationists campaign to turn it into an arts museum and a “creative community hub”.
Portsmouth City Council will decide on June 23 whether to overturn a refusal to list the former Records Office in Museum Road as an Asset of Community Value (ACV).
An ACV is a building or land nominated by the community. If listed and sold, the community can bid for it. It usually requires community use in the last five years and a realistic chance of future use. Without recent use, listing is harder to justify.
The decision will be made by the the council’s cabinet after an appeal from the Sustainable Conservation Trust (SCT), which nominated the empty building in December 2025.
The site is next to Portsmouth Museum and Art Gallery and is proposed to become a “Visual Immersive Arts Museum & Creative Community Hub”.
The council first refused the application on 5 February. An assistant director said the plans would benefit the city, but could be done in other places without the “extraordinary costs” of fixing up the building.
The council argued repairs would cost between £2m and £2.5m. SCT estimated partial use could cost between £50,000 and £150,000. The council also said no funding had been confirmed.
They added that the building has not been used in the recent past and that it is unrealistic it could be brought back into community use in the near future.
SCT appealed on 1 April. It said a legal test about recent community use is being removed under the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026. It also submitted a five-year funding plan.
In a letter of support, Portsmouth South MP Stephen Morgan said: “Portsmouth is preparing an ambitious and exciting City of Culture bid. In this context, SCT’s proposal to transform the former Records Office into a Visual Immersive Arts Museum and Creative Community Hub is particularly compelling.
“A project of this kind would demonstrate Portsmouth’s commitment to protecting and investing in the spaces that give our city its character, cultural depth, and creative capacity. It would also strengthen the narrative of community-led cultural development that will be central to a successful bid.”
The council was previously urged to turn the records office into a Sherlock Holmes Museum by actor and presenter Stephen Fry, following plans emerged that it could be demolished to make way for council homes.