NON-AQUIND is a practice research project that includes a range of outputs including a documentary film, a postgraduate Design brief, a public event and an edited book.

The project takes an inventive design approach to a site of community activism. While renewable energy networks support global ambitions for net zero, delivery is complex, as related infrastructure has impacts upon landscapes and communities. NON-AQUIND explores the repercussions of a proposal for an electrical interconnector between Normandy and Portsmouth. The proposal has provoked activism from French (Non a Aquind) and UK (Let’s Stop Aquind) communities living where the undersea cable makes landfall.

Initially, a short film was shot to document members of the Let's Stop Aquind group at Eastney and Milton Allotments in Portsmouth. Participants reflect on the likely impact of a proposed electrical interconnector on their community garden, and discuss the formation and approaches of their ultimately successful community activism. the documentary was directed and filmed by James Caddick.

The postgraduate Design brief was delivered for students undertaking the MA Design Expanded Practice programme at Goldsmiths during a ten-week period in Spring term in 2022. 28 students formed six groups which responded to the brief following a series of stages including fieldwork in Portsmouth, mapping and visualising data from the fieldwork, prototyping design proposals based on research insights and delivery of final outcomes exhibited at Milton Park in Portsmouth in the format of a community ‘energy’ Fete.

Milton Village Hall Spring Energy Fete was a public event held on Saturday 2nd April 2022 in the grounds of Milton Park by Milton Village Hall, Portsmouth. The event featured six student projects that were outcomes of a postgraduate design brief delivered for the MA Design Expanded Practice programme at Goldsmiths, University of London, and a refreshments stall providing free tea and a selection of cakes.

The publication interleaves three strands; material from local activists’ social media channels, submissions to the planning portal for the interconnector proposal, and the responses of postgraduate students to a design brief. The publication gives material expression to the diverse character of a coastal community whose landscapes become subjected to plans for renewable energy infrastructure.

The brief and related research activity benefited from funding awarded by the Research and Knowledge Exchange Committee in the Design Department. The brief was delivered by Tobie Kerridge, Rebecca Glyn-Blanco and Naho Matsuda.

• Kerridge, Tobie and Caddick, James. 2022. Stop Aquind - Eastney and Milton Allotments. [Film/Video]
• Kerridge, Tobie; Glyn-Blanco, Rebecca and Matsuda, Naho. 2022. Milton Village Hall Spring Energy Fete. In: "Milton Village Hall Spring Energy Fete", Portsmouth, United Kingdom, 2 April 2022. [Show/Exhibition]
• Kerridge, Tobie and Glyn-Blanco, Rebecca, eds. 2023. NON-AQUIND. London: Goldsmiths, University of London. ISBN 9781915983510 [Edited Book]

https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/34425