Revealing pictures show huge progress to create vital sea defences in Southsea - with the road raised and new promenade installed

The new promenade area has been created with stone edging in place along the promenade between Hovertravel and Blue Reef Aquarium, and work has begun to lay the 141 slabs which will match those already in place in front of Southsea Castle and at Long Curtain Moat.

Seating are also being reinstated along the promenade - including the two iconic yellow shelters - with most of the historic monuments which were on the beach area also moved onto the promenade.

A three metre two-way cycle lane will run alongside the promenade, nxt to a new one-way road travelling westbound with echelon parking bays also reinstated. When reopened, the prom, cycle lane and road will all be on the same level after the road was raised by 800mm, next to a grass bund that then slopes into Southsea Common. A new 20mph speed limit will also be in place when complete

A mix of Yorkstone and granite ‘setts’ will also be installed on the road in front of the Portsmouth Naval Memorial to give the area a different feel, and the memorial itself will also be at the same level as the road to create step-free access.

Steps are now in place leading down to a newly-recharged beach area between Hovertravel and Southsea Beach Club, with 61,000m3 of shingle dredged and placed to create a larger and taller beach area.

Large boulders have also been placed in front of the promenade wall between Southsea Beach Cafe and Blue Reef Aquarium in a similar style to the sea defences at Southsea Castle, with new fencing also installed next to Hovertravel where old wooden posts have also been removed.

Key statistics for the latest phase of the sea defences:

• Volume of rock: 75,000t
• Main carriageway fill: 5000t recycled crushed concrete
• Number of precast units: 536
• Number of promenade slabs: 414
• Beach recharge: 61,000m3 of shingle dredged
• Tide pools: 20 ECONcrete pools and 118 rock munched pools

A key feature of this phase of the sea defence scheme will be the creation of the new ‘Serpentine Square’ near to Blue Reef. This which features space for small events, stepped levels with planting, benches and play equipment as well as access down to the pavement which leads to the area in front of the Landing Craft LCT 7074. New lighting will also be installed in some of the seating, as well as across the whole promenade which will connect seamlessly to the completed prom in front of Southsea Castle and the Band Stand Field.

To find out more and take a look behind the scenes of the work carried out so far, watch the video embedded in this story and take a look at our picture gallery.

Project manager for the scheme Amy Bandrés Arbués explained: “All of the sea defences that we have at the moment are reaching the end of their life and it's important that we build that resilience for the future.

“Here we're building a combination of sea defences. So between Hovertravel and the Beach Club we are building a step development and we've brought in a large amount of beach material. And that's in order to still provide that public open access space for the beach.

“And then in between the Beach Club and Blue Reef we're continuing the defences that we've built around Southsea Castle. So here we have a short upstand wall with rock armour in front of it. There's a continued theme throughout the whole of the frontage.”

This section of the sea defences is due to be completed in summer 2026 when it will open to the public.