AN ENTREPRENEUR who bought a 250-year-old prison has revealed he plans on transforming it into a mini Silicon Valley city. David de Min paid the Ministry of Defence a whopping £1.8million for a site they've used as a prison and immigration detention since the 1950s.
4 Known as the Citadel, the prison had been used as an immigration detention centre since 1950 4 David de Min, 33, paid the Ministery of Defence a whopping £1.8million for the compound Credit: Instagram/daviddemin 4 The entrepreneur hopes to transform the prison into a Silicon Valley mini-city Credit: Getty 4 He plans on creating a luxury hotel on the site The 33-acre fortress, known as the Citadel, sits on Dover's Western Height and is entered via a concrete bridge over a grassy dried-up moat. Inside the compound lies a listed 19th-century officers' mess which David plans on converting into a luxury hotel .
The 33-year-old plans to build sustainable homes, create a biohacking lab, and open a restaurant in the "Secret Garden." He also wants to convert the site's tunnels into underground bars and a spa. David aims to host Techfort, a hub for start-ups where they can pursue their ideas for sustainable technology.
He has previously supported "biohacking", a practice focused on pushing the body to its limits to enhance physical and mental performance. David is passionate about ideas relating to living longer. So far, the entrepreneur has only renovated the prison's former healthcare centre, which he has made his hom.