Metabolising Industrial Heritage

Across Europe, fossil fuel-based industrial sites are being downsized due to technological advancements and a global shift in energy production. In the UK, this transition is especially pressing in Port Talbot, home to the largest steelworks in Europe and a century-long industrial presence. With the move towards electric arc furnaces, the future of the site — and the communities shaped by it — remains uncertain. Our research uses Port Talbot to demonstrate how industrial heritage can act as a catalyst for large scale site recovery and urban development.

Conventional approaches to industrial site reuse in the UK typically involve the erasure of industrial features, making way for housing and commercial development. While some iconic buildings are retained for their symbolic value, they are often divorced from their original context and meaning, transformed into aestheticised monuments rather than integral parts of a living heritage. This tendency overlooks the embedded material, cultural, and processual value of such sites.

In contrast, we propose a materially and culturally sensitive method of adaptive and material reuse, arguing for an approach grounded in resourcefulness: viewing industrial sites not as derelict voids but as rich repositories of materials, knowledge systems, and narratives. By adopting a hybrid methodology involving landscape-led design, the reuse of reclaimed materials, and the diversion of industrial waste streams, our research demonstrates how architecture can engage with place-specific legacies while fostering sustainable futures.

Our project emphasises the importance of local craft, materials, and embedded knowledge in shaping an architecture of place. Rather than imposing a top-down vision, it calls for a situated, process-led approach to regeneration — one that understands these landscapes as evolving, rather than static.

Ultimately, our research seeks to define a new post-industrial vernacular for Port Talbot — one that reflects the complexities of transition while honouring the enduring identity of place.