The broader title of my thesis asks ‘can a system be created to manufacture resilience within an industrial community’? The chosen site was Redcar, specifically the area surrounding the now decommissioned Steelworks site. Rich in granular quality and grandiose in scale, I feel the site can be regenerate, thus transforming the fortunes of the people of Redcar who have lost their primary employer.
The masterplan begins by demothballing the Steelworks through processing decommisioned oil rigs from the North Sea. This is the beginning of a series of phases of development and growth for Redcar. The phase presented here is the one of creation and the ‘nucleus’ of the proposed site. It will cause a ripple effect to reconnect Redcar > Steelworks > rest of the UK. A Construction Skills Centre for local people and adjacent Fabrication Hub to ply their new trade are the landmark buildings. Locals will construct - with newly processed steel from the Steelworks - reversible additions for the site to add societal value and create community resilience. These may begin in the forms of a community greenhouse and allotments and a market to sell local fishing produce. All buildings added to the site will become part of a circular economy of materials and structures which can be disassembled and reassembled should the requirement for their use diminish.
My project draws on my interests of considering the wider socio-economic implications of design and adding value to an area, thus improving the lives of the local people. I feel that architecture or design should always provide this quality as well as opting for sustainable methods of construction and building use.
