CAN collaborated with artist Felicity Hammond to design Forecast, a permanent public artwork and civic sculpture commissioned by Brighton & Hove City Council as the focal point for a new public realm development in Portslade, Hove.

Positioned in the central plaza between the historically significant Portslade Town Hall and the Victoria Road Housing Development, the installation responds directly to local industrial heritage, coastal erosion, and urban regeneration. The public art installation consists of a cluster of three organic forms designed to resemble weathered sections of brick masonry washed ashore by the sea, physically embedding the history of the site's former brickfield and the historic stone-polishing company that once occupied the adjacent town hall.

Constructed using sustainable circular economy principles, the sculptures are cast from a custom concrete mix utilizing an aggregate of waste brick fragments salvaged directly from the construction of the new housing scheme. The polished surface of the concrete reveals these embedded brick fragments, mimicking the natural aesthetic of sea glass and wave-eroded industrial materials. Structural steel hoops encase and anchor the polished masonry forms, finished with painted detailing that marks a rising tidal line to visually highlight climate change impacts, sea-level rise, and environmental vulnerability in UK coastal communities.

By integrating site-specific material histories with contemporary climate discourse, Forecast functions as both a durable piece of municipal infrastructure and a critical commentary on permanence, material reuse, and the future of coastal public architecture.

Photography by Richard Chivers & Felicity Hammond

Supported by Arts Council England