The Green House, Victoria Park, Portsmouth

Architect - Thomas Ford and Partners

Dreadnought handmade ornamental arrowhead tiles in a mixed blend of deep red, bronze and purple brown

Background

Victoria Park, the People’s Park, in Portsmouth, created in 1878, was the city’s first public park.  Leading landscape architect Alexander McKenzie transformed this inner city area from open scrub land to beautiful parkland with both formal and natural planting, fabulous trees, lawns and promenades. 

The Green House community hub is part of a project, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund to restore and revitalize Victoria Park and make it more inclusive for the local people.  This new community building, in the centre of the park, provides a large space for the local community to use for school groups, meetings, workshops and events, as well as a kitchenette for community and volunteer use. 

Designed by Simon McCormack from Thomas Ford & Partners, the building uses natural materials so that it blends in with its leafy, green surroundings.  It is clad with Dreadnought’s handmade arrowhead tiles in a mixed blend of natural clay colours, and has a living green roof and solar panels.  Local residents were engaged by the design team to be involved in the process and help create a building in harmony with both the Park and its long history.  150 of the clay arrowhead tiles are special “debossed” tiles which can be sponsored and customised by members of the local community to help preserve the Park’s heritage for future generations.  Personalised commemorative or celebratory discs sit flush with the surface of the tile alongside the entrance to the Green House and provide an opportunity for the public to connect with the Park and contribute to its preservation going forward.  Some tiles have also been pressed with an image of the park's notorious 1878 fountain.