Collapse warning at historic Drill Hall in Newport

Complete with castle-like towers, the distinctive Drill Hall, in Lower Dock Street, has a proud military history and for decades was the headquarters of the 3rd Monmouthshire Rifle Volunteer Corps.

It later became a community and religious centre, but disaster struck twice in recent years when fires gutted the building and reduced it to a shell, and a recent application to convert it into flats was thrown out by local authority planners.

Now described by the council as a “fire-damaged and derelict listed building”, the Drill Hall is at risk of further degradation and “urgent repairs” are required to keep it “wind and weather-proof and safe from collapse”.

Firefighters at the Drill Hall in Lower Dock Street, Newport, in 2018. (Image: www.christinsleyphotography.co.uk)

Neil Gunther, a planning enforcement officer for Newport City Council, said a new report on the building’s condition had caused “a great deal of concern”.

An upstairs bay window at the front of the hall was at “imminent risk of collapse” and could topple onto Lower Dock Street if untreated, closing the road and potentially injuring passers-by.

After some delay, the owner this week put up scaffolding around the building, helping “alleviate most of our concerns”, Mr Gunther added.

Inside the Drill Hall in Lower Dock Street, Newport. (Image: Newsquest)

Calling on the council’s planning committee to serve an urgent works notice on the Drill Hall - which was approved unanimously on Wednesday - Mr Gunther said it had taken “several months to get to this position” and described the necessary work as “the minimal” amount required, including the removal of loose brickwork from Cross Lane, at the side of the building.

If the council was forced to step in and carry out the works by default, it would “recover the costs from the developer”, he added.

The future of the Drill Hall remains uncertain. Protective fencing surrounds more exposed parts of the building, but through gaps there are visible piles of bricks and rubble, as well as several buddleia shrubs which have sprung up among the debris.

The side of the Drill Hall in Cross Lane, Newport. (Image: Newsquest)

Planning committee member Stephen Cocks spoke ruefully about the condition of the building, telling fellow councillors “people don’t understand its… enormous historical importance”.

The hall’s owner applied last autumn for planning permission to convert the building into flats, but planners rejected the application over conservation and privacy concerns.

However, Mr Gunther told the committee this week the owner had told him “a [new] planning application will be coming in shortly”.