[5] The foundation stone to mark the construction of the civic offices and the guildhall square was laid by the Lord Mayor of Portsmouth, Phyllis Loe, on 19 December 1972.

[6] An existing statue of Queen Victoria, which had been sculpted by Alfred Drury in bronze, placed on a granite pedestal and unveiled by Lady Dupree in 1903, was relocated to a new position in front of the proposed civic offices at that time.

[7] The new civic offices were designed by Harry Teggin and David Taylor in the International style, built in glass and steel, and were officially opened by Admiral of the Fleet Earl Mountbatten of Burma on 15 November 1976.

Its design, which involved extensive use of black glass led to issues with solar gain and heat loss.

[13] In July 2022, the council decided that the building was no longer-fit-for-purpose, because of its extensive use of black glass with no air conditioning to dissipate the heat, and because of the increased use of home-working.