

Margate Place-holder
Year 4 Masters Project
What if regeneration prioritised locals? A speculative response to the Margate Town Investment Plan and Town Deal, the project proposes a self-built community centre that empowers the local community to reclaim Margate and improve it on their terms.
Over the years, Margate’s popularity as a tourist hub, as well as its decay, have been well documented. Recent improvements have aimed to leverage the tourism and creative sectors, with a focus on the Turner Contemporary, Dreamland, and the town centre. These projects have renewed the town but are out of sync with residents’ lives. The project aims to maximise local engagement by inverting this relationship.
Sited at the intersection of the coastline, the Green and Cliftonville, the scheme utilises the abundant chalk beneath Margate as a catalyst for regeneration through community building, workshops, and collective upskilling. The project suggests an alternative approach to regeneration, in which local involvement, material use, and collective building provides the platform for a bottom-up strategy. The aim is to provide a sustainable framework for the long-term regeneration of the town that is relevant to the lives of its residents.


