Hastings Pier, 5 years on

There have been two fires, one in 1917 and another in 2010, both events will have released greenhouse gas emissions and particulates into the atmosphere, how much we can’t be sure. The pier has been chopped and changed, with parts of the structure dismantled in World War II, and with a range of buildings constructed and dismantled over its lifetime. All of this will mean the pier has a likely substantial maintenance and repair impact, far beyond its initial upfront embodied emissions. dRMM have even designed a next iteration for the pier, yet to be delivered, and we are sure others will make modifications and adaptations to it in years to come.

Designing using low-embodied and biobased materials that can sequester carbon, will have hopefully reduced the impact of this particular iteration of the pier’s life, with timber sequestering carbon countering some of the emissions released in the fire. We haven’t yet studied in detail the pier’s whole life cycle emissions given the challenges of doing so accurately over its full life, so these thoughts are only well-informed hypotheses (if anyone is interested in doing a full academic study on this please let us know!)

It’s interesting to note that the pier still stands 140 years after construction, showing that when buildings and structures are taken care of they can stand the test of time far beyond the typical 60 year lifecycle we assume for WLC assessments. For our iteration, the 60 year lifecycle would take us to almost its second century. Stewardship of structures and the built environment is a vital role that is undervalued in our society today.

Looking forward, how will the pier weather tidal level changes from global warming? We don’t know what the reality will be, and will entirely depend of course on how fast we as a society decarbonise everything.

The pier’s reconstruction prioritised the efficient reuse of the existing structure, with the placement of the community building located in an area bolstered with additional structure as needed. The interventions in the sub-deck structure are visible clearly as an expression of elegant efficiency. The deck was made strong enough to host all manner of temporary functions, with already large-scale events and markets held over the years on the pier. Hastings has had a pier for the past 140 years, and we hope that this iteration will continue that legacy for the same amount of time again.

Because the pier is an unusual typology, we are able to make use of the charred timbers as cladding to the community building. We find on more typical projects in our studio, like housing for instance, that there are still many barriers to implementing circular economy approaches in main building fabrics. We would love to use the same thinking on other projects, however issues with warranties, with insurance simply get in the way too much. What a shame, as we feel that the cladding with charring adds personality and character to the building, laying bare the history of the pier so far for all to see and remember. When we can work with old materials, we should do so in celebration of their properties and stories too.

We decided to celebrate the sea, the sky, the horizon, the beach with the minimal architectural interventions on the pier. This is one of the only piers in the country that you have a clear view of the horizon, without lots of permanent architectural clutter in the way. The experience of being so far out at sea, with only the sky and sea surrounding you is a special one, one feels so small in contrast to the vastness of these vast planetary systems. While there isn’t any planting or biodiversity on the pier, we believe that this connection with wider natural landscapes is an important one, and part of what made and continues to make the pier so successful and loved. Seaside towns will be on the front line of climate change, and so fostering any improved connection with nature through architecture can only be a good thing in building interest and paradigm shift towards protection of nature, and ourselves in the process. While we divide up waters into different territories, and claim airspace, really being on a pier like this reminds you how arbitrary these lines in the ground are and the interconnectedness of nature.

The pier’s reconstruction was the result of a community coming together and working to establish an organisation and governance framework that could take ownership and make the changes the people of Hastings wanted to see. dRMM went above and beyond the duty of the architect in the design and subsequent stages, supporting the community to engage widely in consultation events, in developing funding applications and so on. It was a great shame that the community organisation was not able to survive a storm of their own, and it is sad to look at how easily organisations like this can fall into trouble with the quick pull away of charitable finance, which we are seeing again recently with arts organisations like the Royal Opera House and the Donmar Theatre losing funding that they rely upon. We need to collectively think and talk about the current economic system and where we place value – all too often the ‘free but wonderful things’ in life, like piers, are not valued and supported enough. While the pier’s community chapter is over for now, it still stands strong and continues in its next iteration of private ownership, albeit with the clang of the gambling machines once again funding its maintenance and upkeep. We hope its owner today and into the future will look after it as it deserves.

In our view the project has stood the test of time and is still in line with best practice for sustainable architecture on so many fronts. The devil would be in the detail on improvements, such as moving to fully renewable energy and fossil-fuel free systems in the two buildings and perhaps looking at material specification in more detail through today’s eyes, such as looking at lower carbon insulation materials, and the specification of any steel used – how much recycled content and what is the manufacturing energy source for that?

If we were designing the pier today, we would ask, how could a pier become regenerative? That would be an interesting design question, and is a question the pier’s owners could ask themselves too for its ongoing management and future upgrades and replacement cycles.