Niall Benson, Project Manager for the Durham Heritage Coast, will visit the Institute on Thursday 21st May to discuss his work regenerating an interesting piece of coastline in North East England.

The coast between Hartlepool and Sunderland had been best known for the depressing backdrop for films such as Get Carter and Billy Elliot until the £10million Turning the Tide transformed it into a popular area with real on the ground improvements, for example the main town Seaham had one coffee shop at the start of the project and now has 13, plus the highest increase in house prices from 2003 to 2006. This has led to the area now having Heritage Coast Status and in 2002 the Turning the Tide project won, jointly with the Eden Project in Cornwall, the prize for Outstanding Achievement in Regeneration in the annual Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors awards.

These achievements have gained above all by engagement with the local community and this will be an important focus of the discussion.

The seminar will take place at the Macaulay Land Use Research Institute on Thursday 21st May from 12.30 until 1.30.

East Grampian Coastal Partnership website.