Through establishing wider systems of material industrial symbiosis and methods of tailored chalk-based renovation, this project proposes the use of waste chalk ‘filter cake’ to renovate, remediate, and regenerate the derelict Shoreham Cement Works, converting it into a Chalk Works – a construction school which offers an alternative curriculum.

How can the site be brought back to life using regenerative methods that respond to its historical development? How might chalk waste be used to establish a tailored renovation method for the existing building? How might an alternative construction curriculum emerge from this material process?

In response, a chalk-based logic addresses the historic processes and conditions that exist on site while enabling new architectural, geological, and social processes to be inserted. With chalk waste driving these changes, architectural and landscape interventions take on a hybrid, homogenous quality. The research provides opportunities for broader investigations into chalk architecture, forming symbiosis between industry and construction, establishing a renovative cob construction method, and alternative material-driven teaching methods.