Gallery
#GAG 293
Millom Iron Line, Cumbria
A destination that unites art, ecology and heritage
RIBA Stages 0-3
International Design Competition Win 2021
“We’ve worked really hard as a team to create something which embraces the ambition of the original brief whilst also being appropriate to the context of the setting, the industrial heritage which is so fundamental to Millom and the sublime coastal landscape of the lagoon. I think this is a really exciting proposal for Millom and Haverigg that will boost footfall in the area for years to come. Whilst this is a significant project for helping to level up our coastal towns, we’re also proud of how the scheme will ensure that existing wildlife and nature thrives into the future and how the Iron Line project will sensitively enhance the accessibility, appreciation and understanding of this wonderful location.”
Project Architect
The vision for the Iron Line is to sensitively transform the coastal lagoon of Hodbarrow, a lakeland peninsula on the Cumbrian coast into a nationally significant visitor attraction; uniting art, heritage and ecology. Millom and Haverigg were invited to bid for a share of the Government’s £3.6 billion Towns Fund in 2019. Working alongside Copeland Borough Council, the Millom Town Deal Board secured an offer of £20 million from the fund for projects it identified as local priorities, the Iron Line project was fortunate to be one of those. In 2021, Gagarin Studio, alongside landscape architects Layer, won the project through international competition and on which we worked until 2025.
Gagarin Studio, developed proposals for the 57 hectare site, previously home to the former Hodbarrow Iron Ore Works – now a place of Special Scientific Interest and RSPB Hodbarrow. We consulted and collaborated with a wider design team and large number of stakeholders from the local community, local councils, RSPB, Natural England and Historic England.
A proposal was developed, to sensitively introduce a circular landscaped route alongside a new visitor destination incorporating the physical assets that give Hodbarrow its unique character: heritage, ecology, and the natural landscape setting.
Proposals for the Iron Line include a new welcome building, with cafe, learning space and retail opportunities within an earth-sheltered lower level with a raised circular drum form sitting above offering visitors 360 degree panoramic views across the varied landscape from the Cumbrian mountains to the estuary and sea beyond. Elsewhere across the site are a series of destinations linked by over 8 kilometres of new and enhanced accessible routes. These range from public art installations, viewing platforms, bird hides, heritage interpretation and reanimated existing structures including the creation of a camera obscura within a former stone windmill at Hodbarrow Point.
Shown are some of our Stage 3 designs, which through art and architectural interventions help to tell the story of a place, bring back to the surface the history of the people and industry, magnify this amazing context, and through a programme of enhancements support the special habitats and biodiversity of this ecologically important site.
The project is now to be delivered through a design and build contract, a contractor and their team have been appointed and whilst we’re sorry not to be taking the project any further, we hope to see some of our ideas and vision for Millom, come to fruition.
RIBA Stages 0-3
International Design Competition Win 2021
“We’ve worked really hard as a team to create something which embraces the ambition of the original brief whilst also being appropriate to the context of the setting, the industrial heritage which is so fundamental to Millom and the sublime coastal landscape of the lagoon. I think this is a really exciting proposal for Millom and Haverigg that will boost footfall in the area for years to come. Whilst this is a significant project for helping to level up our coastal towns, we’re also proud of how the scheme will ensure that existing wildlife and nature thrives into the future and how the Iron Line project will sensitively enhance the accessibility, appreciation and understanding of this wonderful location.”
Project ArchitectThe vision for the Iron Line is to sensitively transform the coastal lagoon of Hodbarrow, a lakeland peninsula on the Cumbrian coast into a nationally significant visitor attraction; uniting art, heritage and ecology. Millom and Haverigg were invited to bid for a share of the Government’s £3.6 billion Towns Fund in 2019. Working alongside Copeland Borough Council, the Millom Town Deal Board secured an offer of £20 million from the fund for projects it identified as local priorities, the Iron Line project was fortunate to be one of those. In 2021, Gagarin Studio, alongside landscape architects Layer, won the project through international competition and on which we worked until 2025.
Gagarin Studio, developed proposals for the 57 hectare site, previously home to the former Hodbarrow Iron Ore Works – now a place of Special Scientific Interest and RSPB Hodbarrow. We consulted and collaborated with a wider design team and large number of stakeholders from the local community, local councils, RSPB, Natural England and Historic England.
A proposal was developed, to sensitively introduce a circular landscaped route alongside a new visitor destination incorporating the physical assets that give Hodbarrow its unique character: heritage, ecology, and the natural landscape setting.
Proposals for the Iron Line include a new welcome building, with cafe, learning space and retail opportunities within an earth-sheltered lower level with a raised circular drum form sitting above offering visitors 360 degree panoramic views across the varied landscape from the Cumbrian mountains to the estuary and sea beyond. Elsewhere across the site are a series of destinations linked by over 8 kilometres of new and enhanced accessible routes. These range from public art installations, viewing platforms, bird hides, heritage interpretation and reanimated existing structures including the creation of a camera obscura within a former stone windmill at Hodbarrow Point.
Shown are some of our Stage 3 designs, which through art and architectural interventions help to tell the story of a place, bring back to the surface the history of the people and industry, magnify this amazing context, and through a programme of enhancements support the special habitats and biodiversity of this ecologically important site.
The project is now to be delivered through a design and build contract, a contractor and their team have been appointed and whilst we’re sorry not to be taking the project any further, we hope to see some of our ideas and vision for Millom, come to fruition.