Portaferry Castle Park
This Castle Park project reimagines a historic walled garden at the heart of Portaferry as a welcoming, active public space for locals and visitors. The project sets out a phased plan beginning with the refurbishment of the park’s entrance building and a simple canopy structure through Peace Plus funding creating a community-focused space that anchors a wider vision for regeneration along the Rope Walk and waterfront
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Client: Ards and North Down Borough Council
Collaborator: MMAS
Working with Ards & North Down Borough Council, OGU Architects led a feasibility study to unlock the potential of Castle Park — a historic walled garden at the heart of Portaferry. Through workshops, site visits, and conversations with local partners, the study explored how small, carefully targeted interventions could bring life back to this underused green space, connecting it more strongly with the Rope Walk, Exploris Aquarium, and the town centre.
The first phase focuses on transforming the disused entrance building into a community hub — a café, meeting room, and visitor facility that provides essential amenities while creating a visible, welcoming gateway to the park. Designed for flexibility and sustainability, the hub offers showers, laundry, and accessible toilets alongside spaces for community gatherings and outdoor learning, supporting both local residents and visitors arriving via the ferry and coastal walking routes.
Around the hub, the study proposes a sequence of simple, regenerative moves — removing closed gates, improving surfaces, adding seating, and introducing a temporary canopy for events among the trees. Together, these projects signal a shift in how the park is used and cared for: a shared civic space that encourages people to meet, stay, and participate. The work lays the foundation for a wider regeneration vision, strengthening Portaferry’s tourism offer while deepening community connection to this remarkable landscape.
Developing Strategic + Impactful approaches to the regeneration of Castle Park, Portaferry.
Impact
The emerging strategy aims to re-establish Castle Park as a shared public resource, a place where heritage and future meet. By improving access, supporting local enterprise and encouraging events, the project seeks to activate the park from morning to evening, summer to winter.
Through collaboration with community partners and Ards and North Down Borough Council, the study demonstrates how targeted investment and design-led placemaking can create sustainable civic infrastructure for small towns, fostering wellbeing, tourism, and cultural identity.
