Phuket Town, Thailand – A former provincial prison site in the north of Phuket Town is being transformed into a public park in a project expected to finish on 11 June 2026.
Construction under way and on schedule
The redevelopment began on 19 December 2024 and is due to take 540 days. The contract for the 165.8 million baht project was awarded to Bangkok-based SPM 5988 Co Ltd, and local authorities said work was progressing as planned.
Rewat Arfeerob, president of the Phuket Provincial Administrative Organisation (PPAO), said the site had been cleared and construction had reached its midpoint. “The site has been cleared and work is advancing; the project is now at its halfway point,” he said, confirming the scheduled completion date of 11 June 2026.
Design aims to create a green lung
The new park will occupy more than 40 rai — roughly 64,000 square metres — and is being promoted as both a recreational space for residents and an additional attraction for visitors. Planned features include a pagoda housing Buddha relics, a multipurpose building and a pavilion intended to host community activities.
Planners also included family facilities: three playgrounds for children, panoramic viewpoints for city and coastal views, and three public toilet blocks. Officials described the development as a way to add much-needed public green space to Phuket Town and to support outdoor exercise and leisure in an urban setting.
Heritage retained amid change
The site was home to the Phuket Provincial Prison, built in 1901 during the governorship of Phraya Ratsadanupradit and used for 121 years. Authorities decided in 2022 that the complex did not meet criteria for formal historical classification and parts of the old structures were demolished.
Despite that decision, project planners said elements of the original prison will be preserved and repurposed as a “living museum” and an eco-tourism attraction within the new park. The approach aims to balance reuse of historic fabric with the creation of contemporary public amenities.
Part of broader urban revitalisation
The PPAO framed the project as one strand of a wider effort to revitalise urban areas across Phuket, including improvements to waterfronts, pedestrian pathways and community parks. Officials argue the moves will help reconcile tourism development with more sustainable city planning.
For residents of Phuket Town, the change promises a very different neighbourhood character: where prison walls once stood, officials say there will soon be open lawns, play areas and viewpoints. The conversion has also prompted discussion about priorities between conserving historic buildings and creating new public spaces for a growing city.