Day 2 - Site Visit
After visiting the site, we were inspired by different objects, features and people that we came across. We have found that New Islington is being reshaped into an extension of the city centre and therefore is being redeveloped. Many core residents of New Islington were made to move away from Manchester to more suburban areas or different cities, where they needed to buy a house from the money that the council has offered them for their, soon to be demolished house, which left everybody involved in debt. It was clear that this is the dark side of Compulsory Purchase Orders, which did not consider the outcomes that would affect people’s lives for many years after.

Adverse space. It relates to sites that were demolished throughout the years due to the CPO. We were tasked to choose a site in relation to that and create a depiction of that space currently. Therefore, my group chose Clayton as our site, which used to lay vastly rows of houses but now has been immensely demolished. During our visit, the site was still under demolition at the last stage, therefore we could still see bricks and glasses covering the site.

The interesting thing about this site was how it was industrialized therefore, unsafe for habitation, but we found out there was a food factory nearby. Unsafe to stay, but safe for food production. Ironically, this is how it works for this site.

We edited the photos taken of the site to depict an industrial feeling in which we will use for our installation.

On the first day in event Adverse Space we were devided into 3 groups. We were asked to chose an area in Manchester which has been CPO'd and research on it. Throughout our project we have to acknowledge the affect of the given CPO on the community, the affect on the area, and its architectural aspects and value either lost or gained in the city context as well as any other useful info we could find which would shed light on the aftermath of the CPO done and whether it had an overall positive or negative affect. We went to Manchester Central Library, where we did some research and chose New Islington,development which is a currently ongoing CPO programme, and has been for more then ten years. I didn't really know what to expect, but it seemed interesting to me, to see how the area was affected, what processes led to the CPO, the reasons behind it and why it seems, most of the planned building were not even started.

Day 1 - Research
In the morning, we have researched different CPO’s in Manchester, with a particular focus on East Manchester. As a group, we have chosen a CPO site –New Islington, which at first glance seemed very user oriented in terms of the housing that they were producing. In order to find more information about the projects undergoing in New Islington we have spent the afternoon in the Central library. We have taken notes of the books and articles to consider which would provide us with further insight into New Islington.

Day 1
As we were not sure of what CPO (Compulsory Purchase Order) means, we were asked to do a little research about CPO and what it meant. After that we were asked to choose a CPO site in manchester and do a full analysis plus a response to that specific site. We chose West Gorton to focus on as it was an area that the council keeps making decisions about doing a CPO on every two or three decays.

Day 1
Research into the past of Clayton, an area of East Manchester which saw a large amount of houses demolished for regeneration. However much of the space where there was housing is now left empty.

Day 5.
We printed out the photos from yesterday and try to destroy it with chemicals to resemble the effect that the surrounding has on the area.

Day 4
A mock up of our final output - a 3 dimensional puzzle made up of the different communities in East Manchester, each piece stained differently. The black space signifies the void in the area and the councils unwanted interventions. We feel it necessary to show the canals in our puzzle because not only does it give some geographical reference but it is the reason this area was chosen for development as land value increases if there is water near by.

Day 3
After choosing the site in day 1 and visiting it in day 2, in day 3 we have decided what would the final output will be which is a photo collage of people and buildings of the area. so this image shows the begining of the process and we are experimenting with different photos that we took from the site.

Day 3 and 4
We have been discussing how we want to portray New Islington as a void, we decided on creating a 3D puzzle. The puzzle will be made up of wooden blocks signifying different communities. Above is the process we went through to get from map to puzzle.

DIAGRAMS OF THE SITE: ANCOATS MCR

1. CANALS. EXISTING- NEW

2. OLD BUILDINGS - BUILDINGS DEMOLISHED. CPO. - SITE NOW

3. AREA CPOed

4. COUNCIL- COMMUNITY- HOW COUNCIL DOESN'T FIT IN THE COMMUNITY (CPO)

WE CAME UP WITH AN IDEA; CREATING A PUZZLE OUT OF THE SITE- AN INTERACTIVE PIECE THAT WOULD SHOW CONCEPTS OF THE CPO.

COLLAGE ON HOW THE ANCOATS COMMUNITY FEEL ABOUT THE CPO

"SAY NO TO DEMOLITION. WHEN IT'S GONE IT'S GONE."

Today we started to collate our photographs of the site together and brainstorm idea on what type of installation we would like to produce. Our main inspiration came from the photographer Richard Moose who used a colour infrared film so as to create a new perspective on conflict. So we edited our images to mimic his style.

The last four remaining houses we initially discovered to have been on the CPO site in Clayton had recently been demolished. Although this was not what we were expecting, it produced the opportunity for some excellent observation for such a derelict site. We photographed and collected found objects in the vicinity.

Day 4. We've been editing our photos from the site with reference to what information we have gained about the CPO site in Clayton.

Day 3.
Edited photo taken from the site we visit on day 2. We use Photoshop to modify the photos in such a way to create a toxic/industrial look as the area is surrounded by chemical factories.

A residential block in the town of Gorton which has been vacated due to CPO orders by the government. Our vision is to portray in a montage, residents physically moving out and leaving the site to make way for the introduction of new residential blocks for re-generation of the area.

Day 2
Visiting the CPO site that we chose to work on for the Adverse Space group. After reaching the site all the impression that I had of it from researching about it on the internet changed completely and it was the opposite of what I though.

We went to Gorton for site visit. The picture shows an area that has been cleared for construction. There is a sense of positivity and potential for what's going to be built.

Day 2
We spent today exploring New Islington - the site we have chosen for our CPO. It was clear from today that the council is trying to gentrify this area by removing lower priced housing and replacing them with expensive modern apartments and houses. The community was moved out in 2003 and this is what the site looks like after 12 years. A Void. Many of the people had lived there for over 50 years and are now living in houses further out of the city centre and paying more. Others moved out of Manchester for good. This example of a 'Compulsory Purchase Order' is one that has been done badly, not thinking about the local people instead of Manchester appearance to the outer world.

The first day of the Events started with research into CPO sites in East manchester. My group discovered an area on Eccleshall Road which had four remaining houses that protested against their demolition, creating an eery scene. To further our research into Clayton, we went to the central library to look into Manchester's archives.

On Monday we looked for possible CPO sites for our responses. My group chose the area, Clayton. Here we found a place called the Lost Street which only has 4 houses on it. The whole area seems barren and much like a waste land. We then went to the Central Library to further explore the history of the site and find starting points for our response piece. The idea of chemical corrosion and industrial focal points seem interesting.

Day 1
Our first day was spend doing research into CPO's in East Manchester. After an afternoon in the Central library we decided on the New Islington development designed by Urban Splash. Like many CPO's, a controversial project which at a glance looks to have left a hole in an East Manchester community.