Moorside Nuclear Power Station

The Landscape Institute ran the Moorside Landscape Design Competition in 2016, which was sponsored by NuGen.  They wanted to find a concept design for the landscaping for the Moorside Power Station site which would then be developed into a future landscape masterplan, with the mounds and other features forming an integral part of the setting of the Power Station and its associated environment.

The purpose of this competition was to select the scheme which provides the most creative, sustainable, appropriate and viable design ideas for the proposed mounds, as well as any associated landscape features, and their future use and management.

Our intention was to create a landscape that can not only be enjoyed as a place of leisure, amenity and relaxation but that also impels us to consider time and space at scales far beyond daily life. As we are aware of the environmental impact of our Carbon based economy, it’s becoming increasingly pressing to think beyond individual lifetimes and towards a positive legacy for the distant future.

We proposed a landscape that allowed visitors and the public to comprehend the timescales involved in nuclear energy and its legacy for future generations.

The accessible area offers an undulating landform representing our earliest picture, or relic radiation, of the universe and reminiscent of the surrounding landscape. This landscape is interwoven with paths, some of which lead to the crest of mounds, from where the landscape and its features can be viewed and reliquaries be seen seated deep below ground. The Carbon Clock offers an opportunity to tunnel through time and space, through the mounded earth towards a pole star. The Stellarium lies within the inaccessible area of the site, giving the landscape an ethereal presence at night.

Our overall desire was to create a landscape that can be inhabited both physically and imaginatively, a landscape of recreation and play that inspires the visitor to consider our place in time.