THIS WEEK IN 1974: IBM '˜country garden' became our Lakeside
Hampshire mayors met at a building site as American firm IBM planned to create an 18th century English country garden '“in Portsmouth.
It would sit on a 125-acre site off Western Road, Cosham, where IBM’s £12m British headquarters was in an advanced stage of construction.
Today, however, the land is instead occupied by the Lakeside North Harbour business centre – which is now home to The News, among many other firms including tech-giant IBM.
Despite being a very different landscape to the country garden planned all those years ago, Lakeside North Harbour’s offices are surrounded by extensive greenery and a lake –which was always part of the plan.
Just four years before building began, the site was part of the Portsmouth Harbour bed.