In this online lecture, architects Olivia Hellman and Nikola Yanev – past winners of the SPAB’s Philip Webb Award design competition – will explore the potential for creative new uses to revive redundant industrial buildings.

Drawing on the pre-industrial history of Stoke on Trent, and inspired by ceramic techniques, Olivia’s PWA-winning scheme inserted an urban Dairy Factory into the surviving brick shell of a former pottery in Burslem. Nikola took a similarly bold conceptual approach to re-using a derelict Yorkshire textile site, Old Lane Mill in Halifax, to house an algae energy production plant and wetlands education centre.  In this event, they will discuss their perspective on the potential for new design to breathe fresh life into old buildings, through embracing innovative new technologies and materials alongside traditional conservation and repair techniques.