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Currently Boathouse 4 is filed with a variety of things and feels like a "work in progress".
The ground floor is a Boatbuilding Skills Training Centre occupied by the International Boatbuilding Training College (IBTC) and the Solent Marine Academy (part of Highbury College). There is only limited accessibility to this part of the building.
For the visitor the main event is on the first floor balcony. This houses an interesting exhibition, entitled The Forgotten Craft, celebrating the small boats which are the backbone of the Royal Navy. There is also a restaurant on the west side overlooking the harbour.
Boathouse 4 was built in 1939 as part of the rapid rearmament programme prior to the start of World War II. It was originally intended to be twice the size but construction was halted by the outbreak of the war. The 'temporary' corrugated iron cladding installed in 1940 to cover the unfinished southern elevation is still there to this day.