Roof Project
After years of careful planning and development, the charity behind Southsea Skatepark is excited to unveil visionary plans for a new roof and building that will significantly enhance this much-loved community facility. The proposed redevelopment is both ambitious and respectful — a modern, sustainable structure that draws inspiration from Portsmouth’s rich architectural heritage while embracing cutting-edge design. The building will include new viewing areas for spectators, a café, and a shop, creating a welcoming, social hub that serves skaters, BMXers and scooter riders and the wider community year-round and in all weathers.
Southsea Skatepark is one of the oldest skateparks in the UK, dating back to 1978, but unlike any other skatepark in the world it has its roots as a rollerskating rink going back many decades before that. The skatepark’s historic and iconic bandstand was itself a community hub for music and dance from 1928. The skatepark has for generations been an important community hub bringing together people of all ages and backgrounds to get creative, meet new people and have fun.
Importantly, the new design reflects the skatepark’s historic location within a conservation area, incorporating subtle architectural details drawn from Southsea’s built environment — a blend of old and new that honours the past while looking to the future. The new building will also seamlessly connect both the new inside skatepark area to the legendary concrete skatepark outside.
As part of its commitment to the local environment, the building has been thoughtfully designed to blend subtly with its natural surroundings. It will feature living green walls and integrated solar panels, aligning with the city’s sustainability goals and the heritage character of the area.
We recently had a busy community engagement event where we shared the plans with the general public including skatepark users, parents, local residents, sports organisations, community groups and more. We had some really helpful and useful feedback and ideas that have fed in to the next revision of the plans that will be prepared to go to planning.
The next big step for the project will be putting the plans for planning approval and after that will be the huge task of funding the project. We have already been working on plans for that, and once planning is approved we’ll hit the ground running working with the community to make these plans a reality.
Address
Southsea Skatepark
Clarence Esplanade
Southsea
PO5 3NZ
UK