More details have now emerged after firefighters were called to a blaze at the former Guilbert / Niceday office building on Greenwich Way in Andover.
Multiple crews tackled the fire on Tuesday afternoon (24 March) and into the early hours of Wednesday morning after the initial call was received at around 3.45pm.
At the height of the incident, around 40 firefighters were at the scene, supported by seven fire engines, two aerial ladder platforms and several support vehicles.
Firefighters used two main jets to tackle the blaze, which affected the roof space at the rear of the derelict commercial property.
Crews remained on site for several hours before leaving at around 1.30am, with a further crew returning at 7am to carry out a reinspection and check for any remaining hotspots. They stood down at around 11:35am this morning (25 March).
Thankfully no injuries were reported.
An investigation will now take place to determine the cause of the fire.
A well-known Andover office site
Guilbert House is a prominent commercial building providing around 34,000 square feet of office space across three floors. The building sits within landscaped grounds of approximately 2.2 acres and includes parking for around 200 vehicles.
Located close to Enham Arch Retail Park and Glenmore Trade Park, the site is within walking distance of several major retailers including Tesco, Sainsbury’s, B&M and Halfords.
The building was historically associated with the Guilbert office supplies business, which later became part of the Office Depot group. Because of this, many local residents still recognise the site as the former Niceday or Office Depot offices.
In recent years the building has been largely vacant and has previously been marketed for sale or redevelopment.
Planning approval has previously been granted for the conversion of the office building into 66 residential flats, although the scheme has not yet been carried out.
Recent images showed the building abandoned
Photographs shared online earlier this week showed the building boarded up and fenced off, highlighting its current unused state.
A post by urban exploration page Robinsons Abandoned Echoes, taken about 2 months ago but published just days before the fire, showed the interior and exterior of the building in a very poor state of disrepair.
The post can be viewed on their Facebook Page here.
Investigation ongoing
It is not yet clear how the fire started or how much damage has been caused to the building.
Love Andover will provide further updates when more information becomes available from the fire service.
