Design Awards 2009 - Winners Announced
For the first time ever, we have given awards to three new buildings in the Portsmoth Soeiety's annual Design Awarda. It has been a record year for new buildings in Portsmouth!More
Civic Society Initiative
Tony Burton (ex-National Trust) is leading the Civic Society Initiative project with a view to replacing the now defunct Civic Trust.. Local civic societies met Tony in Portsmouth to discuss the way forward.More
Successful school design
CABE (Commission for Architecture in the Built Environment) have issued guidance on successful school design. This is very relevant for Portsmouth with the Building Schools for the Future programme in full swing as we learned at the Portsmouth Society's May meeting.The publications aim to help local authority clients, bidders, designers and local planning authorities whose building schools for the future sample school projects are being reviewed by the commission.
For a full description and links to the documents, see www.cabe.org.uk/publications/successful-school-design
The Tricorn: Life and Death of a Sixties Icon
This forthcoming book by Celia Clark and Robert Cook explores what makes an architectural icon – and what unmade it. It sets the Tricorn within its architectural context:.More...
World Heritage Bid Web Site
The project to inscribe Portsmouth Harbour, Spithead and the Isle of Wight as a Unesco World Heritage site now has its own Web site. On it you will find full details of the proposals and how you can become involved.Visit the World Heritage Bid Web site.
Portsmouth Reflections
An innovative book by Neil Marshall has been published featuring pictures of Portsmouth Then and Now.More ...
Winter 2009 Newsletter
- Save Our Trees!
- World Heritage Site update
- Public Art Strategy
- The Pyramids, Southsea
- Go permeable - it's planning free!
- Seafront Shelter
- Days out with the Portsmouth Society
- Planning update
- Dr Colin White
- Your local independent cinema needs you!
- Maintaining the unique character of Drayton Lane
- From the Membership Secretary
- Grass Roots Online - the Civic Societies Newsletter
Autumn 2008 Newsletter
- 2008 Annual Design Awards
- Portsmouth Harbour, the Isle of Wight and Spithead as a World Heritage site
- Link with sister city Portsmouth New Hampshire
- Design Champion/Historic Environment Champion
- An evening walking tour of Alverstoke Village
- The Omega Centre
- Somerstown
- Planning Q & As
- "Your city, your future - the draft Portsmouth Plan".
No Diving - Memories of Hilsea Lido
Visit the web site created as a result of a recent project to collect memories of the Hilsea Lido.More ...
2008 Annual Design Awards - Announced
Once again this year The Portsmouth Society is pleased to announce the results of its prestigious annual design competition with Best Restoration going to the beautifully restored auditorium of the Kings Theatre..More...
Summer 2008 Newsletter
- Northern Quarter Plans Approved
- Architectural Bus Tour
- City Vision Centres - Southampton - and Portsmouth?
- Designing Portsmouth 2009/2010
- Hilsea Lido Update
- Southsea Flooding
- World Heritage Site Bid
- The Shelter on Eastney Esplanade
- Thomas Ellis Owen Sculpture
- Treadgolds Museum
- Naval Medicine
- Pyramids update
- Rodney Gordon 1033-2008
- Poleitis!
- Philip Kolvin's Speech to the Civic Trust South East.
View the full version of the Naval Medicine article
Naval Medicine - the story of James Lind
The Summer 2008 newsletter feature an article about James Lind, pioneer in Naval medicine. The item was shortened owing to lack of space, however the full article is reporoduced here.View the full article on James Lind.
Portsmouth Society Annual Report
The annual report was presented to the society's AGM on 2nd April. You can read the report here.Annual Report 2007/8
Friends of the Pyramids
Through lobbying and campaigning, The Friends Of The Pyramids have persuaded the City Council to grant the leisure complex on Southsea seafront a stay of execution.More...
Winter 2008 Newsletter
Top stories include :
- The past is a present to the future
- Northern Quarter Plans Now Available
- Farewell Pitt Street Baths
- Tipner Regeneration Masterplan
- Hilsea Lido Pool for the People
- Boundary walls and Conservation Areas
- What's Past is Passed? - Creative Thinking Exercise
- Your City, Your Future - Core Strategy Submission
- The Guardsman, Fratton Road
- Cut the VAT Coalition
- Odeon Cinema North End
Northern Quarter Planning Applications
Detail plans for the Northern Quarter shopping and leisure complex for Portsmouth city centre were submitted in February to the City Council and more recently, Centros Miller have submitted revised plans for the proposed John Lewis store.
Northern Quarter (reserved matters) Planning ApplicationNorthern Quarter (reserved matters) - Portsmouth Society's commentsJohn Lewis store - details of the revised planning application
Demolition of Pitt Street Baths
A useful and decorative piece of Portsmouth's heritage has been destroyed
with the demolition of Pitt Street Baths to make way for the Northern Quarter
road scheme.More ...
The world’s first Cultural Seascape to be inscribed on the World Heritage
list
A new proposal – to work towards inscription of Portsmouth Harbour and Spithead as a World Heritage site – promises to provide continuity from the physical and social legacy of the area's past towards a well designed, creative future, where new developments and enterprises are of the highest quality and distinctive aspects of the area's economy are enhanced, stimulated by what makes it worthy of world-wide recognition. More ...
Introducing HILSEA LIDO POOL FOR THE PEOPLE
Two recent public meetings at the Lido's Blue Lagoon have seen the numbers
of supporters now working to save this much-loved swimming pool quickly
grow. A third meeting is planned for 7pm on Tuesday 13th November at The
Avenue Hotel. Click here for more details. See also The Lido's 'pool' of life-savers begins to fill!.
New plans for Portsmouth Football Club Stadium
Portsmouth Football Club announced on 26 October that they have revised their plans and are now looking to locate the new stadium at Horsea Island next to the M275 motorway near the Sails of the South sculpture. We look forward to seeing the detail plans but in the meantime you can see the proposals at the PFC Web site at www.portsmouthfc.co.uk .
Special Report - South West Trains
The campaign continues - to restore a respectable standard of accommodation on Main Line services operated by South West Trains (SWT) between London (Waterloo) and Portsmouth Harbour. In this special report, we summarise the situation and describe the actions we and others are taking to persuade SWT to listen to their customers.
View the Special Report.
Autumn 2007 Newsletter
Top stories include :
- Design Awards 2007
- Harbour cruise report
- Hilsea Lido
- Wymering Manor
- World Heritage Site update
- T.E.Owen sculpture
- Commercial Rd/Edinburgh Rd public inquiry
- PFC Stadium
- Core Strategy - what's on the horizon for Portsmouth?
Design Awards 2007 - The results
The new University Library extension is Portsmouth's Best New Building 2007.More ...
Portsmouth Cycle Forum
The Portsmouth Cycle Forum has a new web site called PompeyBUG where you can find details of meetings and current activities. Membership of the Forum is open to individuals and organisation with an interest in cycling in the City of Portsmouth. Their next public meeting is on Thursday 27th September at 7pm in Portsmouth Guildhall.PompeyBUG Web site.
Hilsea Lido Questionnaire
In July of this year, the Hilsea Lido Working Group created a questionnaire to canvas the opinions of users of the Hilsea Lido. When the new swimming pool at the Mountbatten Centre opens in a few years time, the Art Deco main swimming pool at the Lido at Hilsea will no longer be maintained by Portsmouth City Council. Grateful thanks go to all who have helped in this important survey, the results of which are currently being analyzed and which has led to the organising of an important public meeting there in October.More ...
Summer 2007 Newsletter
Top stories include :- Portsmouth FC Stadium for The Hard?,
- Core Strategy for Portsmouth
- Proposals for Northern Quarter,
- Planning Matters
- Buildings in their original condition
- Membership update
- South West Trains
- Planning white paper
- Meeting with PCC Chief Exec. David Williams
- World Heritage proposals
- Edinburgh Rd / Commercial Rd closure
- Portsmouth Society wins Civic Award
- Commemorations
Architecture Week Boat Trip 21st June
The Architecture Week Boat Trip was attended by more than 150 members and guests. The weather was favourable and we were able to travel towards Portchester Castle and Fareham Creek before heading south out of the harbour as far as Clarence Pier. Thanks to all who helped organise such a successful event. Any ideas for Architecture Week 2008?
The annual report of the Society was presented at the AGM in April. Portsmouth's mini-building boom continues but we are still concerned at the poor quality of some of the designs. Archeology, Hilsea Lido and the new Northern Quarter development are just three of the other many issues we have been involved with in the past year.
Read the report
Winter 2007 Newsletter
In this edition ...- Design Awards 2006
- Savoy Buildings
- New John Lewis store for Northern Quarter
- Portsmouth Harbour as a World Heritage Site
- Report from Southern Comfort 2006
- The New Planning System
- Core Strategy Questionnaire
- Architecture Week 2007
- Portsmouth Archaeology
- Reviving Hilsea Lido
- The City Council's Trees
- South West Trains (SWT) downgrades Portsmouth - Waterloo line
Reports from Southern Comfort 2006
The reports from the Southern Comfort 2006 meeting held in Portsmouth on 16 October are now available for downloading.More...
Portsmouth Society Design Awards 2006
The Spinnaker Tower, the setting of Nelson's Statue and the Angel Drinking Fountain were the winners in this year's Design Competition.More...
South West Trains downgrades Portsmouth-Waterloo services
Since winning the 10-year South Western rail franchise, Stagecoach owned South West Trains has decided to downgrade Portsmouth-Waterloo line services.More...
The future of Portsmouth Naval Base
As a result of a Government review, Portsmouth Naval Base is under threat of closure. The News has an on-line petition which you can sign.More...
Summer 2006 Newsletter
Articles include :- Wymering Manor Success
- Southern Comfort 2006
- Buckingham House, Old Portsmouth
- Archaeology – missing in Portsmouth
- New Publications
- Knight & Lee - Proposal for listed status
- Portsmouth Festivities
- South East Plan
- Proposed Regeneration of Tipner
- Abolition of Crown exemption
- New Think Tank
- Volunteer Day 17 June 2006
View the Newsletter.
Winter Newsletter
Top stories from in the February 2006 newsletter :- Maritime City - Portsmouth 1945 - 2005'
- Northern Quarter - Outline Permission Granted
- Brunel Bicentennial Celebrations
- Wymering Manor - the oldest house in Portsmouth
- Decaying Public Heritage
- Craftspeople in short supply - yet popular university course to close?
- Southern Comfort 2005, Farnham
- Nuclear or not?
- Peter Cobb - Fortifications buff, enthusiast and colleague
- Nothing to Report - more signs in Old Portsmouth
- St George's Road Pelican crossing - a small victory for the Society
View the Newsletter.
Portsmouth Society Newsletter - Autumn 2005
In this edition ...
View the complete NewsletterIn this edition ...
- How do you recognise a good building?
- Design Awards 2005 - Nominations Invited
- "Inside Out" Home for Mary Rose
- Beneficial School, Kent Street, Portsea
- A sustainable future for Fraser Battery, Eastney?
- Concrete Threat to Front Gardens
- Block Mills - top historic site and Building at Risk
- Mudlarks
- More Pompeyspeak
- Travel costs since 1997
- Traffic gridlocks in Portsmouth
- The South East Plan
- The Point and Broad Street – Appeal rejected
- Nelson's statue and the Victory anchor
- Moving around Portsmouth
View the Newsletter
In this edition ...
- What Future for Southsea Shopping Precinct?
- How to declutter your streets
- Trafalgar 200
- Lionel Brett (Viscount Esher) 1913-2004
- Replanning the Tricorn site
- Tricorn News & Gossip
- The Great Portsmouth Gridlock
- The Rimmington mural
- Traffic Signs in Conservation Areas
- Milan Mandaric statue appeal
- Defects of the traffic system
- Postcards from Portsmouth
- Forgotten Ports of England
- TETRA - Transmitting from Fratton Park
- Conservation News
- Guide to Planning
View the Newsletter
In this edition ...
- Exciting New Scheme for Heritage Car Park
- Pompey Stadium and Village
- PFI for Roads Rebuilding and Maintenance
- Trafalgar House Mural - A Portsmouth Treasure but dimly revealed
- Determination of Planning Applications
- Kate Crowley's Fund
- The Mainline they Shouldn't Ignore
- Thomas Ellis Owen Celebratory Festival
- Southern Comfort Meeting
View the complete NewsletterIn this edition ...
- The Tricorn - What Future?
- Tricorn as an Inspiration
- Your favourite urban place
- Gunwharf
- Lost History
- Cr*p Towns!
- Best Practice in Regeneration 2003
- Consuming Less in our Homes
- The New Queen Alexandra Hospital
- The Tower - What Cost?
- BBC Southern Ways in South Today
- Portsmouth Point
- The Riviera but Nearer
- Quote of the Month
- Wasted Space
View the complete newsletterHere are the main stories from the Autumn edition of the Portsmouth Society Newsletter.
- Design Awards 2003
- Autumn Lecture Series
- The Vulcan decision
- Solent Architecture Centre
- The Tricorn
- Cosham Tram Shelter - Help Please!
- The University's Milton Campus
- Waterworks visit
- The Portsmouth City Local PlanThe Civic Trust South East
- The Old House at Home, Paulsgrove
- Love and principal, tough and tender
- Queen Alexandra Hospital
View the newsletter
Here are the main stories from the Spring edition of the Portsmouth Society Newsletter.
View the newsletter
Here are the main stories from the Winter edition of the Portsmouth Society Newsletter.
- Design Competition 2002 - Lord Mayor unveils the plaques
- Broad Street Bus Museum under threat
- Manhatten on Portsmouth Harbour - high rise at Gunwharf?
- Vulcan Building Gunwharf - sacrificed to flats?
- Portsmouth Society's 30th Anniversary
- The Impact of the Signing Strategy
- Brent Goose Strategy
- The New Road Centre
- Sale of the Centuries
- Commercial Road Fountain - a personal view
- St James's Hospital Grounds
- Pompey as she is spoke - yet more readers' comments
- Wymering Manor Update
- Book Review - Portsmouth Ships, Dockyard
and Town
View the newsletter
The Portsmouth Society's records go back many years. In the Archive you will find back issues of our newsletters and annual reports.
More..