Taking advantage of a unique landscape

Unarguably, the Shoreham Cement Works presents planners, architects, investors, the land owner, local communities and Local Authorities, with a huge problem.

What can you do with a 1 kilometer long, 100 foot deep, 500 foot wide, 100 acre area, huge white scar – in a beautiful landscape? It’s a scar that’s visible for miles across the National Park, it’s in one of England’s most idyllic settings, and in one part of it the buildings are rotting and decaying, and in the other part – there’s a scrap yard.

And it’s been like that for decades.

And it could go on for decades to come.

However, with this particular site, the key to the solution lies at the heart of the problem.

How to turn a scar into a beauty spot

The key is to innovate. Take the best ideas in how communities can be genuinely sustainable, create homes that excite the people who live in them, make those homes more affordable, integrate the most forward-looking transport technologies, then deliver all that in a development that is a stunning place to live, work, and visit.

And make a virtue of the difficult landscape – by working within the context of the huge chalk pit, and taking all its natural opportunities, and then creating something truly remarkable.

Cornwall got its Eden, Kent got its Bluewater. What will Sussex get?

To our knowledge, the other plans for the Cement Works that are currently being considered by the South Downs National Park are either low-grade, unresolved, or undeliverable.

With the exception of just two: the first is the plan to grind chalk clinker into cement dust between now and 2042; the second is the South Down Project.