Pump House renovation
Renovating our old pump house for a new purpose
At the beginning of 2025 the Retro Collective turned their attention to the old pump house in the grounds of Heber’s mill. The plan was to renovate the space to make it suitable for archival storage for The Cave Computer Museum and The Arcade Archives.
History of the Pump House
It’s unclear when the pump house was built, but we suspect it was likely constructed in the 1920’s or 30’s. It was originally used by Chalford Water Works, Stroud Water Company and North West Gloucestershire Water Board as one of the main water pumping stations in Chalford. The earliest map evidence of the Pump House is 1973 but the building was constructed well before this date.
The 1888 Ordnance Survey map shows a building close to the current building which was likely used to house pump machinery for either the local water works, or the steam engines used to partially power the mill at this time.
By 1972, The main mill building is recorded as empty and semi derelict and the Pump House was occupied by North West Gloucestershire water board, whose predecessors, the Stroud Water Co.
Photos found in Gloucester archives show the internal machines in the 1940s and 1970s.
The buildings surrounding the pump house were demolished in the mid-90s, along with the large pressure vessels. The large fuel tank remains behind the pump house, though it has been capped.
1990 Architect plan of the buildings associated with Belvedere Mill, showing the now demolished buildings and the remaining pump house
More history can be found here and in the first video released by The Retro Collective outlining the renovations.
Beginning the Renovation
Heber kicked off the renovation by funding installation of solar panels on the roof of the pump house. These now provide, on average, 36% of the power for all the buildings during the week. During the weekends the Retro Collective museums are powered entirely by solar energy.
Community Support
The next step was launching the crowd funding campaign to back the major internal works needed. This raised an enormous £60,490.23.
Initially the plans were add in an extra mezzanine and to repaint. However, given the amazing support the plans changed to include creating two floors, fully insulating the whole building, painting, installing new lighting and a goods lift. On the ground floor two storage areas for The Cave Computer Museum and Arcade Archive would be built along with a library and archive for magazines, games and books. The library and archive will be accessible on request. The second floor would be an open plan space which will be used as a lab, workshop and studio among other things.
Getting the Building Ready
The team spent weeks clearing out the contents, removing the internal stairs and mezzanine, cleaning the brick work and ceiling struts, insulating the roof, painting the walls, adding in damp proofing and insulating the windows.
Work in Progress
The team involved in the renovation documented as much of the process as possible and created a series of videos updating viewers on the progress.
In the midst of installing the damp course, insulating the building and creating the first floor level, The Cave Museum hosted an interactive exhibition in the space. The Arcade Decay exhibition explored the secret world of arcade raids, where collectors are given a limited to time to rescue old arcades from buildings and containers before the items are destroyed. Within the pump house examples of salvaged arcades were shown, along with a talk on the rescue and repair process.
More information on Arcade Decay can be found here.
Using the style of the old pump house for inspiration the team got to work painting, and starting on the large scale decoration of the Pump House and including installing a lift.
As the studio space is finished the repair videos resume in the new collaborative space. The work space areas allow for each member of the repair team to work on their components, or for the team to work together.
As the set opening day loomed the team worked hard to get the ground floor areas finished creating the three storage areas, pouring the concrete and insulating the walls.
After an amazing effort from The Retro Collective and the volunteers the pump house was opened in February 2026.
Thank you to The Retro Collective team and all the volunteers for their hard work and amazing vision in creating a new life for our old Pump House.
