Jacob Tucker

It has been widely reported that every river in England is in 'bad' ecological condition. In recent years Southern Water was responsible for over 30,000 hours of sewage pollution into shellfish waters. Precrete proposes a post-industrial concrete tailored to a self-sufficeint society battling with ongoing water pollution. With the project centred around the pollution crisis in Kent, the project looked to to one of the coasts most prolific exports and waste streams: oysters. Tonnes of oyster shells are wasted as a result of the culinary industry, however, due to the ongoing pollution many shells have been wasted without contributing to the local industry. During this project an ancient process known as 'tabby concrete' has been unearthed as a solution to the crisis. Tabby concrete can be made entirely from oyster shells and involves firing the shells to over 900°C and 'slaking' them into a material similar to cement. Unique to this material is it's highly alkaline properties. This has partially contributed to it's phasing out in modern society; precrete utilises these properties in order to purify acidic polluted water. The outcome is a tabby concrete sink that can be used to treat and restore local biodiversity with water purified in the basin. It is accompanied by a 'mess' table made from the scrap wood used from the sink mould.