The Fairways

An indication of the changes ahead!

The paths don’t allow access only a route across the site. The machines are parked up and empty. The sales staff, the groundworkers, the roofers, the chippy’s and the digger drivers all gone home. Its a strange place a land in limbo. The Plenty Brook is as dry as a bone. I think it has been diverted to create lakes and water features on the development.

Its hard to see the future – who will live here and where will they come from? Why will they move here. What will the names of the roads be.

All I can say is that the changes and the impact locally will be very significant. Add to favourites.

Welcome to the Fairways.

The Kentish Riviera..

How much can architects do to create sustainable and friendly communities?

Do they have to portray an advert style world where the sun always shines?

Is it about showing financial success with high status consumer items on show.

Communities living amongst trees and lakes less than a mile from the sea.

I have changed the name of this Blog to ‘The Fairways’. This is the name of the development now. I have to let go of the Golf Course, it isn’t one any more.

I only have knowledge of the past – yet the stories and personal histories of the people who live there are yet to come?

I noticed the sales office was finished and three show homes ready to receive viewers.

I realised today that I have stopped walking, stopped taking an interest in the golf course? I have stopped taking an interest in the surrounding landscape as well really. I wrote a apathetic brief too, the kind of uninspiring briefs you see all the time.

So should I write a second brief next time, one that I would like to see that is inspiring? That would be the productive positive thing to do.

Anyway below is the tongue in cheek uninspiring one for now until I get it together for a walk over there.

Artists brief1

Background context

The Fairways is a new mixed use scheme development in Herne Bay on the site of an old golf course, sold to the developer for £100 (or something very low allegedly). Sports legacy is the way this development has been packaged to the local authority, the proposals were probably drawn up when the Olympics were all over the media. So health and wellbeing are at the very centre of the developers vision for the new community. So we can expect extraordinary sporting facilities, which are fully supported by the Herne Bay residents. Herne Bay Sports Hub will include homes, office space, parkland and modern, eye-catching sports facilities, that have been developed in full consultation with local sports and community groups in this popular coastal town. There will be 572 homes of mixed sizes and tenures, including 171 affordable houses, meeting local housing requirements and significantly contributing to the council’s five-year housing land supply.

The House Builders Vision:

Redrow strive to use materials that are not only in keeping with the area but are from accredited sources.

Redrow are proud members of the World Wildlife Fund Forestry Trade Network, which means they continually strive to increase their use of timber from accredited sources.

Also, they help maintain your Heritage Collection home’s good looks, with next to no effort from you, by highlighting the crafted frames from Glass Reinforced Plastic (GRP),

Touches you’ll find all around you in your new home. From stunning brick detailing, high quality sandstone plinths, headers and cills, wide barge boards, decorative ridgework and ornate finials, every home is built to an individual specification.

Situated on the former golf course, it enjoys a delightful open aspect, while remaining conveniently close to the main arterial route of the A299, leading to the M2 and London beyond.

Redrow Homes will be selling homes from their ‘Heritage Homes ‘collection, which are described as being inspired by homes built during the Arts and Crafts movement. A movement inspired by traditional craft techniques and folk style decoration. An ethos which advocated economic and social reform and was essentially anti-industrial. It had a strong influence on the arts in Europe until it was displaced by modernism in the 1930s. [These new homes do compromise that vision a little to accommodate modern lifestyle needs featuring leading brand manufacturers such as Siemens, Smeg & AEG.

We want to commission an artist to tie all these things together and animate the space, we are open to any kind of materials and interpretation. The work should relate to the area in some way and be relevant to its context. As the development is in the early stages of phase 1 we have a shortlist of available sites. There are no completed houses yet so no residents to work with, but when potential buyers start viewing the site we would like the artwork to be prominent and provide the feeling that this is a nice place to live.

The budget has been structured so that the artist can really only earn a relatively small amount of money, mostly for design and research. We expect the work to be durable and require no maintenance and probably made from stone and stainless steel. The larger sums in the budget have been designated for materials, production, heavy plant and site preparation. It is expected that artist’s designs will be fabricated by industry and delivered to site for installation. This does mean we are kind of leaning towards a freestanding sculpture and one that the architects like as well.

Expressions of interest to include:

Your proposals should probably be a video no longer than 3 minutes or 2 sides of A4.

A detailed budget breakdown detailing the costs which cannot go over £16,500

An artist’s statement describing your current practice and the originality of your work and how artistic interpretation of the brief is manifested through your proposal.

Demonstration of your ability to deliver on time and within budget and track record for delivering projects of a similar scale and ambition in the public realm.

Initial sketches/visuals. Evidence of public liability insurance £5million and the artist awarded the contract may need professional indemnity insurance cover on the completion of the contracts.

Proposals will be assessed by the project team consisting of 2 programme managers from Redrow Homes, the Clerk of Works responsible for all aspects of health and safety on the site. A representative from the arts team from the local authority.