The Portsmouth Elephant Cage seeks better design solutions that can enlighten and inform Portsmouth’s future response to climate change along the Portsmouth and Southsea frontage and UK coastal defence strategies in the wider context.

The promoters seek new, better, creative and imaginative design proposals that can advance thinking and deliver clear and sensitive responses capable of addressing the pressing strategic issue of climate change, in this location and the wider context.

The purpose of this competition is to unlock opportunity and potential, advance knowledge, and develop transnational networks of expertise across architecture, engineering and landscape design around clearly developed visions that address how climate change impacts and the strategies for its mitigation maybe better engaged through integrated design solutions. It is to be hoped that the outputs of this process will also contribute towards the city’s future strategy

Following selection, competitors were provided with more detailed brief documentation, supplemented with site visits and introductory seminars covering the design and technical context, during the competitions opening sessions. Q&As were taken at the event, with specialist expertise drawn from the UK and The Netherlands on hand for the duration.