BRITISH STEEL
Research Practice PhD 2019 // PRESENT‘British Steel: Industrial Heritage Through the Lens of Technology’ captures the iconic disused steelworks in the North East of England during its final moments before eradication. This project embeds the memories of a former steelworking community, notably reimagining a three-dimensional model of a blast furnace core through illustration-led discussions with a former engineer specialist during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This practice-based doctoral research project explores volumetric capture tools and their computational processes as a means to visualise ineffable human experiences and deep connections to place.
The project gained significant attention due to polarised local and national debates about whether to retain the Redcar Blast Furnace core, with coverage in major media outlets including the BBC. These discussions, spanning 2020 and 2021, highlighted the contentious decision to demolish the site and the broader implications following the decline of the UK steel industry.
'British Steel' forms an interdisciplinary action research practice that responds to real-time landscape transformations by redefining heritage perception through the technological lens. It contributes critical knowledge and sparks debate on the challenges, ethics, and impact of heritage eradication across professional, educational, and public domains.
Methods include photogrammetry, three-dimensional scanning, LiDAR, Blender, Height and Terrain Mapping software, Polycam, 3D Scanner App, Unity, GIS systems, Google Earth, Google Maps, Google Earth Studio, Google Earth Engine, NASA Land SAT, Metashape, Davinci Resolve, observational drawing, donated archival materials and audio recordings.