Romsey Railway station master’s house: Major step forward in plans

The regeneration and refurbishment of the Romsey Railway station master’s house has had extensive public consultation over the last 18 months, but needs £1.3m to fund the project. 

Hampshire Community Rail Partnership (HCRP) and its agent ep architects have now submitted pre-application details to Test Valley Borough Council. 

Mark Miller, director of HCRP, said: “Support from local people and the wider community has been hugely welcome and we are excited to now be in the process of raising funds to undertake these much-awaited works. The building has sat empty for many years, so there is a lot to do, and we need to raise £1.3m, which is no easy task! However, we are making great progress with approximately half of this sum already pledged. We have already applied for a long lease from South Western Railway to bring the house back into use.”

READ MORE: Grand plans for Romsey Railway Station's Master's House to go up for public consultation

Gary Wilburn, of ep architects and heading the design team, added: “We are delighted to be working closely with HCRP, TVBC officers and our heritage building colleagues to ensure the renovation and repurposing of the building is undertaken sensitively and with a close eye to historic detail. We aim to deliver a community facility of which everyone can be proud and follows closely in the footsteps of the hugely successful Platform 1 @ Shawford Station Ticket Office refurbishment project which as a collective team we opened to great acclaim last year.”

Station master's house CGI (Image: ep architects)

The years have not been kind to the building, with more than one metre of pigeon droppings in the lower ground floor, extensive historic water damage via the roof, which resulted in most of the plaster being removed, and structural work required to the roof and staircase. 

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Nick Farthing, chairman of HCRP, said: “Ep architects and the design and construction team did a great job at Shawford station, and we are hugely excited to now be on the cusp of starting the bringing back to life process at Romsey station master’s house. We need as much support as possible to help raise the funds to complete the work, so any ideas and of course contributions to this effort would be much appreciated.

“We are also proud to be able to say that our previous project at Shawford was awarded Outstanding Contribution to Society in the 2023 National Rail Awards which is testament to our focus as a team and sets us in great stead for the proposed work at Romsey. Our team, supporters and volunteers care greatly about the work we do, and I am confident this will be self-evident in the finished project.

“We will provide regular updates on progress and via our website https://hampshirecommunityrail.co.uk to which you can log in and direct any interested parties, contributions or ideas for how to raise the £1.3m needed to make this fantastic project a reality. Your support and thoughts how to raise funds would be much appreciated.

“HCRP would also like to remind the community and supporters the refurbishment of the Station House will further enhance the previous projects undertaken at the station by the Rail Partnership, such as the War Memorial at the station entrance and the upgraded footpath that leads to the Romsey Signal Box Museum and canal walk.”