UTC@Harbourside 25.09.2014
My seventh visit to the UTC@Harbourside site. Most of the roof is off, with only the metal struts remaining. These will be coming off soon. I am glad I got there while they remained in place because the patterns they made against the blue autumn sky were beautiful. Looking up, one could almost imagine that the building had a blue ceiling.
The old Marine and Carpenter’s Workshops in Newhaven Harbour have been empty for a long time now but they were once a hive of industrial activity where boats, ferries and even a paddle steamer were maintained and repaired, with the adjacent railway buildings housing their own railway workshops.
The buildings will now have a new lease of life. Renovation and rebuilding will transform this beautiful old building into a new University Technical College for 14-19-year-olds. UTC@Harbourside will specialise in marine and environmental engineering. The partners behind this new school have hired me to document the process of this renovation. For 15 months, I will be taking a weekly journey down the road from Lewes to the coast to watch this old abandoned building emerge as a new place for learning and inspiration.