A joint team comprising Portsmouth City Council staff and London-based Karakusevic Carson Architects, have been recognized for their community engagement and communications work throughout the deconstruction of the Somerstown tower blocks. The Public Sector Transformation Awards, noted as ‘ an opportunity to celebrate and share the most innovative practice in transforming local public services’ are…
The daughter of a Somerstown artist said adding his painting to the Somerstown Self-Portrait Gallery had given her dad a ‘new lease of life, purpose and joy’ after he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease soon after breaking his back during COVID lockdown. Helen Goss said her dad Richard – a prolific local artist who has…
Tearful former residents of Horatia House described their emotions at watching a crane lift the first panel from the condemned Somerstown tower block. “I wasn’t going to get all emotional but I can’t help it,” said Tara Keenan, who lived for nine years in the 1960s Meriden Road building. Click here to watch a two-minute…
ANYBODY with a Somerstown connection, past or present, is invited to add their handprint to the Forest of Somerstown community art project on Saturday 27 November. Free cake, free hot drinks, a DJ and free winter wreath-making craft, for adults and children, will be on offer at the public open drop-in session, on the corner…
A Somerstown grandma has spoken of her pride at watching her granddaughter launch ambitious city centre community art project Somerstown Street Gallery with a stunning 30m Somerstown-themed mural. Skyla’s masterpiece will now be followed with artwork by local street artists, school children, charities, youth clubs, professionals and amateurs who will help decorate the site boundary…
A SOMERSTOWN artist is painting an impressive Somerstown-themed 30-metre mural on the site boundary hoardings surrounding a tower block Portsmouth City Council is bringing down. Skyla Swan, a computer animation student at the University of Portsmouth, grew up yards from the Horatia House site. Skyla has designed a mural that celebrates her local area and…
SPACE hopper races, den building workshops, storytellers and plant potting, in Portsmouth streets closed to traffic, allowed Somerstown kids to get involved with planning for their new neighbourhood. Hundreds of Somerstown people took part in a free ‘Play and Plants’ community engagement session hosted by Portsmouth City Council in Melbourne Place and Atherstone Walk as…
PORTSMOUTH PEOPLE living with disabilities took the Horatia and Leamington Houses design team for a tour of Somerstown to show them how the redevelopment of the site could help the area work better for them. Portsmouth City Council is bringing down the 1960s blocks in Earlsdon Street and Meriden Road, and replacing them with a high…
THE PEOPLE living closest to two tower blocks Portsmouth City Council is replacing with hundreds of brand new homes have taken another chance to have their say on the latest plans for the site. Architects, lighting experts and council teams were on hand to answer questions from local residents at a pop-up Covid-safe public engagement…
WATCH a one minute video appealing for Somerstown self portraits to brighten up the site of the two tower blocks Portsmouth City Council is taking down. The video, voiced by Somerstown school children Amelie Cooper and Nelly Raw, both 10, asks Somerstown people to send their self portraits to the council before Monday 7 June….
