A soaring collection of English Heritage-listed buildings that sing proudly with Victorian architectural might, history and heritage are the very lifeblood of the British Engineerium. A place where tradition meets modernity, enriched and enlivened by the people and spaces that bring this incredible multi-use complex to life today, it is a testament to the site’s legacy that it remains a national symbol of enduring grandeur and strength.
So, how did this striking nod to Victorian mastery come to be, and what role did it play in Brighton & Hove? Originally the Goldstone Pumping Station, the Engineerium as it stands today was built as a response to Brighton’s rapidly growing population. Until the 1860s, the town’s fresh water had been supplied solely by the Lewes Road Works, but as it became increasingly evident a new source of water was essential, Brighton Council needed to think on their feet for a long-term solution.
That solution arrived in the form of Thomas Hawksley. Pioneering the supply of clean water for Nottingham in 1830 at the age of just 23, Hawksley was one of the most ingenious early Victorian civil engineers. Though he didn’t invent the principle of permanent water supply under pressure, he was the first engineer to apply it to the very real problem of supplying burgeoning towns and, throughout his illustrious career, was responsible for the successful implementation of over 150 waterworks across the UK and abroad.
Noticing the site’s fruitful position on top of a naturally fissured chalk hollow, Hawksley quickly arriving at the conclusion that Hove’s Goldstone Valley would be an abundant spot in which to commence the search for more water. Naturally, he was correct, choosing the site and submitting his plans in 1858, with the 3.5-acre site being purchased in 1862 and Goldstone Pumping Station opening its doors in 1866.
In it’s heyday, what we now know as the British Engineerium supplied a staggering 12 million litres of water per day to 18,000 houses in the flourishing town of Hove and its fashionable seaside neighbour, Brighton, for more than a century. Between 1884 and 1952 when the pumping station hit its peak potential, the site housed two boiler houses with steam engines, a chimney, coal cellars, a workshop, cooling pond, an artificial aqueduct and an underground reservoir built to store fresh water. No mean feat given the limitations on technologies and materials at the time.
But time – and technology - marches on; slowly but surely, new sources of water were discovered and more modern equipment was invented to exploit them, so the pumping station's importance declined. In1971, deeming the once so forward-thinking steam-era apparatus housed within its red-brick walls outdated, the Brighton Water Department closed the doors of Goldstone Pumping Station, threatening the entire complex – and therefore its palpable history - with demolition.
That very same year however, Jonathan Minns, an acclaimed engineer with a showman’s flourish who was obsessed by steam and the marvels of mechanical antiquities, rescued the near derelict water pumping station and transformed it.
A world-renowned expert in his field, Minns had spent more than 40 years researching, conserving and collecting engineering artefacts, including an 1802 model engine signed by British inventor and mining engineer Richard Trevithick and, weighing in at 14.5 tonnes, a gold medal-winning Corliss engine for which he outbid a scrap dealer. His very own passion project, Minns had found a home for his collection – an industrial museum and educational centre opened in 1976 as Brighton and Hove Engineerium, before rebranding in 1981 as the British Engineerium.
A decision of great foresight, Minns was also the man responsible for listing the site with English Heritage, which gave its impressive structures five separate listings for their architectural and historical importance. The former boiler house and the spectacular 95-foot chimney are both listed at higher Grade II, while the former coal shed, the cooling pond and leat, and the tall flint and brick wall surrounding the site each have lower Grade II status.
Regardless of this public admission of huge historical significance, 2006 marked the start of a period of uncertainty for the engineerium’s future involving closure, rescue and rebuilding. Which leads us to now. Standing empty for 16 years, patiently awaiting the care and commitment of the right team to nourish and nurture its distinctive majesty, the site was bought in 2022 by Luke Johnson, an accomplished entrepreneur, investor and chairman of the Brighton Pier Group, who instantly saw its potential value as a thriving community hub.
Today, having undergone an ambitious refitting to resurrect it in line with the wants and needs of the 21st century, the British Engineerium has become an accessible multi-use recreation and leisure development with community firmly at its heart. An immersive, experiential interpretation of history, the diverse wealth of spaces across the site today - including fascinating exhibits to promote the study of industrial history – are as exciting and awe-inspiring as the buildings themselves.