A design-led mixed-use neighbourhood to support city centre regeneration and early-career living.
Proposals for the former Debenhams building and Station Street Car Park in Portsmouth city centre have been submitted to Portsmouth City Council.
The updated scheme is the result of ongoing design development and dialogue with the Council’s planning and design officers, directly responding to feedback on the original application. Working alongside the site owners and a national development partner, the team is progressing a programme that would see work begin on the site in 2026.
Conceived as a new residential and mixed-use quarter for the city, the project represents a major investment in Portsmouth’s core. The proposals introduce a mix of new city-centre uses, high-quality homes, and co-living accommodation tailored to early-career professionals. The intention is to help retain talented people trained in the city, including those working in the NHS, the University and the MOD and who might otherwise move away, while bringing much-needed housing into the heart of Portsmouth and supporting spending in local shops, cafés and services.
Debenhams closed in March 2020 amid a rapidly changing retail landscape and the onset of the first Covid-19 lockdown. The former department store and adjoining car park have remained vacant since, and the site is now widely regarded as an eyesore. Its transformation offers a significant opportunity to re-energise the city centre, attract new investment and deliver a contemporary mixed-use destination with active ground floors, new homes and generous amenity space.
“Our revised design focuses on creating a well-connected, people-focused part of the city. By introducing new public realm, landscaped amenity spaces that link Arundel Street with Station Street, we’re able to create a new north-south link that will help create a more cohesive city centre. Along Commercial Road and Arundel Street, we have reimagined the frontages with active, transparent ground floors and carefully composed elevations to bring new activity and a stronger townscape to these key streets,” said Chris Darling, Chair at Darling Associates.
Key elements of the scheme include:
- Three new buildings of 29, 20 and 19 storeys
- Approximately 975 sqm of new retail and commercial space
- New public realm and civic space connecting Arundel Street and Station Street
- 724 new residential units in total, comprising:
- 366 apartments in Blocks A and B
- 358 co-living units for young professionals
- Zero carbon in operation, and embodied carbon minimised through modern methods of construction.
It is hoped that Portsmouth City Council will determine the application shortly, enabling the developers to move forward quickly with the site and bring this prominent city centre location back into productive use as part of the wider regeneration of Portsmouth.
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