Information

What your ticket includes

Your ticket includes:

  • Full-day access to the conference, including any and all sessions.
  • Breakfast, lunch and dinner, provided by the Portsmouth Dockyard caterers, Ampersand.
  • Tea, coffee and water throughout the day. (Note - soft drinks are available for cash purhcase).
  • A goodie bag with some great swag from us and our generous sponsors.
  • Tokens for the bottle bar and rum ration bar in the evening.
  • Unlimited Laser Quest games (evening only), sponsored by Roave.
  • Board & card games from A Fistful of Dice.
  • Access to the Action Stations exhibits after public closing time until 9pm.

What to expect on the day

Aim to arrive at 8am on the day to ensure registration happens nice and smoothly. There will be refreshments available on arrival. The day will kick off at 9am with the opening speech followed shortly after by the keynote.

Throughout the day we will have excellent talks from speakers around the world, with lunch provided. Following the talks, we have a closing speech and prize draw announcements which we ask everyone to attend.

After this, a hearty dinner will be provided before an exciting social in the evening featuring free laser quest games, sponsored by Roave, board games provided by a local board games shop A Fistful of Dice - and of course a bottle bar will be available for free refreshments.

For more detailed information, please take a look at the PHP South Coast 2016 schedule page.

Interactive Map

Location - Action Stations, Portsmouth Historic Dockyard

The conference will be held in Action Stations, which is a unique maritime venue housed in the magnificent Boathouse Number 6 in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, featuring a 275 seat digital auditorium. The dockyard is the home of the Royal Navy in Portsmouth and is open to the general public which means visitors can immerse themselves in the maritime history of the Royal Navy, including the Mary Rose Museum, HMS Victory, HMS Warrior and more.

See below for the venue layout on the day:

Floor plan

Transport

By Rail

If coming by train, you'll need to come to Portsmouth Harbour station. The dockyard entrance is about 100 yards from the train station exit.

By Car

Portsmouth Historic Dockyard is less than 5 miles from Junction 12 of the M27, follow the brown and white signs to "Historic Dockyard" which will lead you to the dockyard car park on Admiralty Road, which has 295 spaces and is 400 yards from the dockyard entrance. If this car park is full, there are others nearby in Gunwharf Quays shopping centre, Havant Street, Wickham Street and St James's Street (Small but cheap University car park, weekend only). You can find all the information you need about parking in Portsmouth on the Parkopedia website.

By Car with Park & Ride

Portsmouth operates a park & ride system which has services to The Hard Interchange. You can find more information on the Park & Ride scheme here. Note that on Saturdays, the last bus leaves at The Hard at 19:15.

By Air (via Southampton Airport)

The closest airport is Southampton which serves many cities around the UK and Europe, mostly through Flybe and Ryanair. Transfer from the airport can be via a pre-booked airport taxi, or you can catch a train from Southampton Airport Parkway railway station to Portsmouth Harbour (change at Eastleigh).

By Air (via London Gatwick Airport)

Alternatively, you may find flights to London Gatwick Airport, which has reasonably priced direct train links to Portsmouth Harbour (see "By Rail" for more information).

By Air (via London Heathrow Airport)

For flights landing at Heathrow, it's easiest to catch the Rail-link transfer to Woking, and then a train down to Portsmouth Harbour. For schedules, check out the Trainline.com.

By Coach

If you're coming by coach, you'll need to find a coach that goes to The Hard Interchange (a.k.a. Portsmouth Harbour). The coach and bus station is just across from the dockyard entrance.

By Ferry

If you're coming over from the Isle of Wight, you need to get either the passenger or car ferry to the Portsmouth terminals. For international arrivals coming to the ferry terminal, you will need to arrange a way of getting from the terminal to the conference as the ferry terminal is on the north-west of the city.

By Hovercraft

Arrive in style from the Isle of Wight; check out the Hover Travel website for information about a speedy trip from IoW.

Accommodation

These are several hotels nearby the venue which may suit your needs:

Nearby Restaurants

You can't beat Gunwharf Quays for selection of restaurants and food, located just a few minutes walk from the dockyard. Gunwharf Quays shopping centre has a range of restaurants to suit all tastes including Azzurro, Cafe Rouge, Chiquito, Frankie & Benny's, Indian Palace, Jamie's Italian, La Tasca, Loch Fyne, Nandos, Pizza Express, Wagamama and Water Margin.