What can Southampton and Portsmouth teach us about housing-led regeneration?

Southampton’s Renaissance Vision and the regeneration of Portsmouth City Centre North are among the most prominent examples. Both reflect a growing recognition that successful residential development cannot be measured by housing numbers alone, as Gary Jeffries, Head of Residential Property Services at Vail Williams, explores.

The challenge is not simply to build more homes, but to create diverse, sustainable neighbourhoods in which people want to live, work and spend time.

This requires the right mix of housing, tenure, public realm, infrastructure and amenities. But it also depends on schemes remaining commercially viable and deliverable over what can be a lengthy development period.

A renaissance in South Coast regeneration

In recent years, Southampton has entered an ambitious new phase of growth. Its Renaissance Vision brings the public and private sectors together around six themes: Connected, Destination, Green, Innovation, Neighbourhoods and Waterfront.

The city already has an extensive pipeline of development and regeneration opportunities, including Bargate Quarter, Maritime Gateway, Leisure World, Chapel Riverside and the continuing regeneration of Townhill Park.

Together, these projects have the potential to deliver new homes, employment space, public realm and stronger connections between the city centre, its waterfront and surrounding communities.

Portsmouth is also progressing one of the most significant regeneration opportunities on the South Coast – a project which we are proud to be part of.

City Centre North covers 13.25 hectares of brownfield land, including the former Tricorn and Sainsbury’s sites. It has the potential to deliver up to 2,300 new homes across a mix of tenures, alongside workspace, leisure facilities and more than 240,000 sq ft of public space, including a major urban park.

Vail Williams supported the preliminary market engagement for City Centre North alongside Mace Consult and Montagu Evans. This work helped to assess developer appetite and consider how the long-term regeneration vision could be brought forward in a changing economic and regulatory environment.

The selection of ECF as Portsmouth City Council’s preferred regeneration partner represents an important step towards turning that vision into a deliverable new neighbourhood and we are excited to see what happens next.

Placemaking goes beyond the front door

Of course, the quality of a home cannot be separated from the quality of the place around it.

Green spaces, safe streets, walking and cycling routes, public transport, community facilities and access to employment all contribute to people’s experience of a neighbourhood. Commercial, cultural and leisure uses can also help to generate activity throughout the day and prevent new residential areas from becoming disconnected dormitory developments.

This is particularly important in city-centre and urban regeneration. Changes in retail and working patterns have created an opportunity to reimagine land that may once have been dominated by shopping, roads or large single-use buildings.

At Portsmouth City Centre North, the ambition to provide homes alongside workspace, leisure uses, public realm and better connections, illustrates this shift. The intention is not simply to introduce residential development onto former commercial land, but to create a new urban quarter that reconnects surrounding neighbourhoods with the city centre.

Meanwhile, Southampton’s regeneration opportunities present a similar placemaking opportunity.

Individual schemes must work successfully in their own right, but their combined impact will depend on how effectively they connect with the waterfront, transport hubs, established neighbourhoods and the wider city.

Turning placemaking ambition into delivery

Creating a diverse, well-connected neighbourhood is, frankly, just common sense. But delivering it is a much more complex process.

Large regeneration schemes often need to address fragmented land ownership, infrastructure requirements, abnormal construction costs and lengthy planning or procurement processes. Affordable housing obligations, environmental standards and investment in public realm must also be balanced against what the development can viably support.

As with any development, market conditions will change over the lifetime of a scheme. Demand for different housing tenures might shift, construction costs may rise and new regulations might affect design or residential viability.

This is where having a strong placemaking masterplan can help, to establish a clear long-term vision while retaining enough flexibility to respond to the sorts of changes and challenges above.

David concludes: “Phasing is especially important. Early development stages need to create confidence, establish a sense of place and provide the infrastructure required for later development. But they must also be commercially realistic and capable of attracting funding and development partners.

“The mix of housing can play a useful role here. Different tenures may appeal to different investors, developers and registered providers, helping to diversify risk and support delivery across the property cycle. Public-private partnerships and institutional investment may also become increasingly important where conventional development models cannot achieve the required balance between financial viability and social value.”

A significant opportunity for the South Coast

Southampton and Portsmouth have distinct identities, economies and development challenges. Yet, both have an opportunity to demonstrate how housing-led regeneration can create more inclusive, connected and resilient places.

Placemaking success will require collaboration between local authorities, landowners, developers, investors, registered providers and local communities. It will also depend on joined-up advice across planning, property, viability, infrastructure and development delivery.

Yes, the South Coast needs more housing, but not just any housing.

It needs a varied supply of high-quality homes within neighbourhoods that provide green space, amenities, sustainable connections and a genuine sense of belonging.