In November 2011, local chartered architect Lesley Burgher was appointed as the restoration project agent and lead consultant, together with Billy Groundwater of Orkney Surveying Services who provided quantity surveying services; and Allan Reid, who provided structural engineering services. The team took the project forward from Judith and David’s initial ideas.

Planning permission and Listed Building Consent were granted in June 2016, with a building warrant granted in March 2017. A provisional alcohol licence for on and off sales was also granted in August 2016.

As hands on clients and very close neighbours of the store (Judith was brought up and has lived a stone throw away from the building all her life), they have been heavily involved with the project in specifying design requirements, and have been involved throughout the works.

Casey Construction were awarded the contract in early April 2017, with an estimated completion in June 2018 and construction budget in the region of £1.2 million. Many of Caseys workers worked tirelessly to complete the project and the standard of workmanship was extremely high with lots of attention to detail . Here you can see many of the faces of the guys involved and who all did a fantastic job.
The Storehouse was also renovated by re-cycling its original details and internal fabric, which was formed from re-cycled ship wrecks and local materials. So we have re-used all the original materials once again to breathe new life into this iconic building.
The interior was designed by Judith Glue and she incorporated many items which were found and left in the building when Judith and David originally aquired it, keeping its history and stories alive . It is also designed to be fully wheelchair accessible throughout and a lift was fitted to enable easy access to all floors.
Heated by air to water air source with solar thermos panels on the back roof brings it into the future, making the whole building greener and energy effiencent to run.

Judith and David hope this very exciting renovation project will turn this iconic B listed building into a great asset to Kirkwall Town Centre, welcoming locals and visitors throughout the year. Without the available grant funding they feel they would not have been able to turn their vision into reality.

To keep in touch with us join The Storehouse Restaurant with Rooms Facebook page or watch the YouTube video if you want to learn more about the restoration

In 2018 Owners Judith Glue and David Spence painstakingly renovated this iconic historic B Listed Building re-cycling everything they could. Built around 1880 as a Herring and Pork curing station it still retains its original internal timbers some of which were salvaged from local ship wrecked tall ships .