The Marine Workshops

The Marine Workshops are a complex of engineering workshops built around 1882 for the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway, originally used for cross-channel packet ships and later for port maintenance. The upper story was partly rebuilt in the mid-1940s, and the roof was replaced in 1961. The building is brick, with a parallel hipped roof covered in corrugated iron and plastic skylights. Some original pine planking and glazed skylights are said to remain in a smaller store range.

The plan is rectangular, a single cell divided east-west by a two-story, nine-bay arcade of cast-iron columns. An office and small store are attached to the north front. A projection in the southeast corner, originally a plumber's shop (now used for electrical purposes), is covered by a catslide roof. Sliding doors are located on both the east and west fronts.

The exterior presents as a two-story structure, and brick pilasters support an entablature, forming recessed panels for round-headed, 16-light cast-iron windows on the north and south fronts. Most of the original segmental-headed lunette windows at first-floor level remain, with the exception of two inserted square-headed windows on the north front's northeast corner and on the west front. These were rebuilt following damage sustained in November 1944 when a barge carrying munitions struck a mine just outside the harbour, causing extensive damage throughout Newhaven. A single-story, gable-fronted store abuts the former Locomotive Workshops in the northeast corner, and behind it is a two-story canted bay overlooking the quay.

The interior still contains original fittings. The central arcade carries the shaft for a belt-drive system, which remains partly in use at the western end. Originally, alternate columns were hollow and served as downcomers for the central roof valley, but these were filled in during the 1961 roof replacement. Two original, hand-operated cranes and their gantries remain in operation. A blacksmith's forge with a cast-iron hood and chimney, bearing the inscription "Brighton Works 1882", is also present. The workshop was used for the repair of ships' engines until the early 1960s.