A new aparthotel in Porth has unveiled a landmark mural inspired by the community’s spirit.

The SeaSpace building, formerly Sands Resort, has revealed a fresh new coastal street art mural.

The artwork has been created in collaboration with local artist and teacher Phil Strugnell.

The mural aims to pave the way for SeaSpace’s creative future. The new owner of the building wanted to keep its waymarker status alive when they took over the site in 2023. From the first visualisations, they were keen to retain the bright pop of colour that sees the building standing out on the coast road between Porth and Watergate, but with a fresh reimagining for its new chapter.

SeaSpace’s community and partnerships manager Alison Payne took the lead and a call-out was issued.

Local artist Phil Strugnell was pointed in Alison’s direction. As head of art at Newquay Tretherras School, and an active creative in the Porth and Newquay community, Phil’s ideas chimed with what SeaSpace was looking for; an inspiring representation of the coastal art movement that sums up the community energy the aparthotel is eager to encourage. 

Phil planned a mural to capture a sense of movement, flow and vibrant energy to mirror the surrounding environment. But the painting of it was far from easy as the side of the wall where the mural was being created stretches 11x8 metres.

The artist and his steady-handed assistant, John Bevan, worked for close to 100 hours to create the piece, working through 20 stages of design before even putting paint to brickwork in poor conditions up a high rig of scaffolding.

The mural has been designed to capture and evoke Newquay’s emerging coastal street art movement.

The artwork represents the first in a series of creative happenings and events that SeaSpace plans to run and contribute to, over autumn, as it opens its doors for the first time.

Phil’s artist residency at SeaSpace on November 9 and 10 will include free to attend workshops as part of the Be Newquay Festival, a month-long celebration of Newquay’s creative spirit from November 1 to December 1. 

The workshop will be held for visitors and guests to get involved in. 

Alison Payne said: “Right back at the beginning, with the first visualisations of the SeaSpace concept all the way to bringing it to life today, we’ve wanted to forge strong connections to the community.

“We’re thrilled to have been able to work with the Porth-based artist and well-respected local figure Phil Strugnell. It’s a perfect partnership and the final product is really special.” 

Phil said: “SeaSpace is keen to be part of the community here, so working at the local secondary school, being involved with many cultural events around Newquay, and thankfully, the team at SeaSpace liking my style and visual language, all meant I was a good fit for the brief.

“It’s such an iconic building, so I wanted to do that justice, while reimagining it for what SeaSpace is set to be. I’m stoked with the result.” 

SeaSpace CEO, Ben Harper, added: “With its bold colour and vibrant feel, the mural really sets the tone for our ambition to shape a bold, vibrant new chapter at SeaSpace and put the venue back on the map for the Cornish community. We can’t wait to welcome everyone this autumn.”