Riverside One has given rise to an industry first in its shared streetscape of Bridge Street East with a project dubbed the ‘Ironopolis Tactiles’.

Artists United Creatives have taken a standard issue guidance tactile paving slab and working with industry partners have combined function with heritage. A set of rare words linked to the history of the Middlehaven dockside area have been integrated into the tile design.

In 1868 Iron-making peaked on the Tees and there were around 100 furnaces lining the river between Stockton and Redcar and Middlesbrough became the most famous iron-making town on the planet and became known as ‘Ironopolis’ the ‘Great City of Iron’ hence the choice of materials.

The master tiles which are used to form the cavities in sand moulds which allow for the superheated molten cast iron to be poured in. These are made from brass and were machine tooled in the UK as were the tiles themselves that use a form of ductile iron. These start off their life as silver and quickly will rust to a bright orange before turning a dark brown.

Pete Halsall, MD of BioRegional Quintain said ” We are thrilled to see the progress of the Riverside One arts project. Chris Edmunds, having conceived of this installation has been extremely diligent in overseeing the manufacture of the tactile strips. We are also delighted to see something of value being made in a local engineering workshop - seems like we can make it in the UK after all!”

Chris Edmunds, Creative Director
United Creative