Portsmouth City Centre North

A substantial brownfield site in the centre of Portsmouth, just ten minutes’ walk from the railway station, is proposed for redevelopment under a progressive masterplan that is now going through the planning process.

Currently dominated by car parking and commercial units, the site will be turned over to the creation of a ‘car-poor’ neighbourhood featuring a mixture of affordable, private and inclusive homes, alongside new commercial space and with a huge public park at its centre.

Portsmouth City Council plans to create a sustainable, liveable community around the 2,300 new homes and 10,000m² of commercial space, re-configuring the existing highway network to remove the roads that run across the site and creating community avenues for sustainable travel and connectivity.

Expedition was appointed to provide specialist consultancy services, working alongside Leslie Jones Architects to develop a sustainability framework for the masterplan and apply it to the detailed design for the first phase. In doing this we responded to the Portsmouth 2040 vision to support the council’s aim of achieving net zero by 2030, meeting and even going beyond policy requirements where possible.

The four key pillars of our strategy are to achieve a sustainable environment; sustainable resources and circular economy; sustainable travel and connectivity, and sustainable living.

The conditions we seek to create are such that we are targeting – and believe we can achieve – up to 45% net biodiversity gain on Phase 1; we expect the urban greening factor for the scheme to exceed 0.4.

The 13ha site features a 2.5ha urban park as well as landscaped courtyards, new trees and hedgerows, rain gardens, green roofs, a woodland buffer, wildflower planting, bee bricks, insect hotels and permeable paving.

With this biodiversity net gain approach we aim to create a resilient new neighbourhood that not only responds to the climate emergency but also enhances the health and well-being of local communities and visitors

Our transport strategy is to minimise car movements across the site, and create conditions that  support the 15-minute-city and healthy lifestyles; landscaping features are designed not just to create sustainable habitats, but as a means of absorbing surface water, reducing temperature fluctuations, and contributing to a liveable micro-climate for residents.