Tenth International Conference on The Constructed Environment

Abstract

This practice-based research seeks to create a research-led design strategy encouraging future development and sustainable design within a UNESCO World Heritage Site. My focus is the town of Belper in the Derwent Valley, an area currently under pressure from diverse and conflicting socio-economic forces due to the post-industrial decline of the cotton manufacturing industry. As an example of the pioneering period of the Industrial Revolution, Belper’s identity is defined by its overall form and its relationship to the industrial landscape and the broader agricultural landscape. It is essential that these relationships should be definite and recognisable. However, abandonment of large factory buildings and closure of many warehouses and garages have left behind vast, derelict land and a bizarre landscape that needs to be remediated. My hypothesis is that the new design can recognise, reinforce, and enhance the distinctive characteristics of the historic built environment while upgrading it for the twenty-first century. My innovative approach regards the site as a palimpsest, a concept based on alternative urban theories that seek to uncover the ‘deep structure’ of a place as a foundation for place-specific design. This involves extensive and focused research of the existing layers of the historic built environment and its cultural significance, the natural environment and the social landscape. Knitting together the new and the existing, my research-led design seeks to promote appropriate and viable mixed-use development that repair and upgrade Belper’s existing urban grain while recognising the evolving nature of its historic character.