Tyne & Wear Building Preservation Trust

Tyne & Wear Building Preservation Trust has played a vital role in protecting and bringing new life to some of the region’s most important historic buildings and structures. Its work combines conservation with public engagement, helping places with extraordinary architectural and industrial histories remain active, accessible and relevant to the communities around them. Dunston Staiths is a particularly powerful example: an immense surviving structure that speaks directly to the River Tyne, the coal industry and the engineering heritage that helped shape the North East.

Orbis Community has developed a number of creative projects inspired by the Trust’s work, including designs connected to St Mary’s by the Tyne, Dunston Staiths and other heritage sites. For one project, sections of timber from the Staiths were cut and transformed into a collection of laser-etched artworks, allowing the material of the structure itself to become part of the creative response. Jonpaul Kirvan developed the artwork for the pieces, which were presented at an evening hosted by the Trust for its trustees, partners and supporters. Alongside this, Orbis Community has delivered print workshops and produced a wider range of designs responding to the Trust’s buildings and stories. The relationship has provided an important opportunity to explore heritage not simply through images of historic places, but through their materials, craftsmanship and the people working to preserve them, creating new work that carries those stories into a contemporary cultural setting.