Futurecity has been appointed to curate and project manage an exciting and ambitious public art programme for Berewood, a 516-acre residential development by Grainger PLC within the West of Waterlooville area of South Hampshire.

Winchester City Council, Havant Borough Council and Grainger PLCselected London-based art, landscape and architecture practice ‘Wayward’to deliver ‘Grow, Grow, Grow Your Boat’, a living sculpture of large growing oaks shaped by a sculptural steel frame to create a one-to-one scale ship’s hull, based on HMS Victory. Grow, Grow, Grow Your Boat draws on the role of the ancient woodland of the Forest of Bere in supplying oak for shipbuilding from the 16th to 18th centuries. The artwork creates a play space, living architecture and creative sustainable water systems.

Futurecity curators Andy Robinson and Niamh Sullivan led a competition for artists to propose a public art project that brought together artwork in the public realm with community engagement.

The Forest of Bere has an extraordinary nautical history that links the ancient woodlands to some of the country’s most famous ships and their compelling histories from the 16th to 18th centuries. The forest was an important source for mature oak trees for shipbuilding, used to build warships and merchant ships, at Southampton, Portsmouth, and later at Bucklers Hard near Beaulieu.

Trees were often restricted by chains to encourage them to grow into the particular shapes needed for ship- building, for example a ‘knee’ to support a deck – planning ahead by perhaps 50 years.

It is this history of shaping and manipulating living trees for shipbuilding that has inspired Wayward’s proposal – to create a living sculpture that evolves with a new town and a growing community.

Wayward have proposed a two-strand commission for Berewood that combines permanent public artworks with a dynamic programme of community engagement. At the heart of the proposal are two living sculptures made of oak trees and steel. The first will be located at the Gateway to the development, acting as a striking identity marker and beacon for Berewood and the wider West of Waterlooville area. The second will be situated in the new public Town Park, where it will gradually grow into a scale model of the HMS Victory, accompanied by a model boating pond to activate the park with playful, heritage-inspired programming.

Alongside the sculptures, Wayward have developed a rich engagement programme designed to involve the local community in the making of these works. Initiatives include a Nautical Forest School, model boat building workshops, and a participatory campaign to grow a boat from 700 acorns—creating opportunities for learning, storytelling, and shared ownership. Together, the sculptures and engagement projects form a living, evolving cultural legacy for the area.

Wayward

Wayward is a landscape, architecture and art practice based in London – an award-winning collective of designers, artists and urban growers. Since 2006, Wayward has pioneered new methodologies in the creative use of underutilised land, transforming derelict sites into large-scale, design-driven spaces that engage local communities and inspire international audiences. Their critically acclaimed projects include the Urban Physic Garden, a pop-up urban garden of medicinal plants built by over 200 volunteers, and the Queen’s Walk Window Gardens on London’s South Bank, visited by an estimated 8 million people.