Cement Fields

Taking us from field to foreshore, our 26/27 programme deepens our long-term and embodied relationship with sites and species across North Kent. We will explore the systems that shape everyday concerns — from food, housing and energy infrastructure, to language, and the loss of agency and access to land around us. With local communities, we’ll be considering global issues, sharing knowledge and learning from the mangroves of Thailand to a rainwater basin in Berlin. You’ll find us mapping waste and the legacies of material extraction, experimenting with traditional crafts and new bio-based materials to explore circular economies and build communal structures and new commons. Digging the soil and sifting sediment to propose alternative approaches to land stewardship, championing food and energy sovereignty. Coming together to witness ecological loss and navigating speech disfluency to explore the possibilities of language. We continue to think big and work slowly, nurturing resistance, care and learning. Our wonderful collaborators include: @threeriversbexley @floatinguniversity @cherrytruluck @somethingandson @ideas.test @flimsy.works @ebbsfleetgardencity @theironham @phaedraensemble @farmeramyaction @chatarchitects Explore our full programme on our newly refreshed website (thanks to the lovely folk at @anendlesssupply ) via the link in our bio. If you’d like to find out more about these projects throughout the year and hear about ways to get involved, join our mailing list too!

We’re Hiring! 📢 Cement Fields is recruiting for an exciting and vital freelance role at the centre of ‘Intertidal Allotment’ — our long-term project with artist Andrew Merritt creating a functional artwork and world-first shoreline community allotment on the Isle of Sheppey. The Associate Curator will be responsible for supporting deep and meaningful local engagement and the transition to community ownership. At the centre of the project, they will act as the main point of contact and coordination for the Friends of Intertidal Allotment, ensuring that they are embedded with all aspects of the project, and coordinate a programme of accessible activities providing a welcoming first step into the project for people of all ages and backgrounds. Find the full recruitment pack in our bio and apply by 9am Monday 18 May. ✍️

‘Intertidal Allotment’ is long-term project by Andrew Merritt (one half of @somethingandson ) ~ a functional artwork and new, world-first community allotment on the north coast of the Isle of Sheppey. Over the last two years, Andrew has been researching and developing the concept, working towards creating a modular and sustainable system that improves biodiversity, responds to the needs of local people, and can be replicated in other coastal locations. The aim is to create a hospitable environment for animals and plants, but also for people to mix, and new ideas to seed and grow. Stay tuned for an update on our second wave of prototypes. 🌱 ~~~~~~~~~~ ‘Intertidal Allotment’ is commissioned by Cement Fields and supported by Arts Council England and The National Lottery Community Fund through their Climate Action Fund. Delivered in partnership with Ideas Test, Swale Borough Council, Kent County Council, Sheppey Matters and University of Kent’s School of Anthropology and Conservation.

A reminder that the deadline to apply for our Intertidal Allotment Associate Curator role is 9am Monday 18 May. ✍️ We are recruiting for an exciting and vital freelance role at the heart of the long-term project with artist Andrew Merritt which continues to create a world-first shoreline community allotment on the Isle of Sheppey. The Associate Curator will be responsible for supporting deep and meaningful local engagement and the transition to community ownership. At the centre of the project, they will act as the main point of contact and coordination for the Friends of Intertidal Allotment, ensuring that they are embedded with all aspects of the project, and coordinate a programme of accessible activities providing a welcoming first step into the project for people of all ages and backgrounds. Find the full recruitment pack in our bio. 🖇️ Photo: Nicol Vizioli

This weekend @cherrytruluck and her travelling ‘library’ of food ‘The Hoo Heddern’ continue their journey gathering a living portrait of food culture on the Hoo Peninsula at Grain Coast Crafty Alpaca Farm, as part of @whoopheritagefestival . You’re invited to explore what the Heddern is carrying — to open drawers, read the snippets people have left behind, browse recipes and notes, and trace patterns between the salt‑pans, gardens, mudflats, and kitchens that make the Hoo Peninsula unique. Each stop along the peninsula adds another thread to the Heddern’s growing tapestry: a recipe rescued from a drawer, the smell of a childhood meal, a seed packet saved from a long‑gone allotment, a note about what once grew in the salt‑touched soil, or a catalogue that once lived in someone’s shed. Any and all contributions connected to food and the Hoo landscape are welcome. 🥕🗒️🗣️ → Saturday 16 & Sunday 27 May, 11am-4pm → Grain Coast Crafty Alpaca Farm, Isle of Grain → WHOOP Heritage Festival Free entry, no booking required — we look forward to seeing you there! ~~~~~~~~~~ ‘A Year Long Feast: The Hoo Heddern’ has been commissioned by Cement Fields and supported by Medway Council through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF). This event is kindly supported by WHOOP Heritage Festival. Image: Cherry Truluck, ‘A Year Long Feast: The Hoo Heddern’ (A National Dish of Hoo? Community Feast), 2026. Photo: @wainwrightsam

Join artist and researcher @cherrytruluck next Saturday 16 & Sunday 17 May from 11am-4pm at Grain Coast Crafty Alpaca Farm, where the Hoo Heddern makes its next stop as part of the WHOOP Heritage Festival. 🦙 🗺️📍 Explore what the Heddern is carrying… Inside the Heddern, you’ll find a strange and beautiful mix of objects offered by neighbours across Hoo. You can open drawers, read the snippets people have left behind, browse recipes and notes, and trace patterns between the salt‑pans, gardens, mudflats, and kitchens that make this place unique. Bring something to place on the shelves… Each stop along the peninsula adds another thread to the Heddern’s growing tapestry: a recipe rescued from a drawer, the smell of a childhood meal, a seed packet saved from a long‑gone allotment, a note about what once grew in the salt‑touched soil, or a catalogue that once lived in someone’s shed. You’re welcome to share anything connected to food and the Hoo landscape: 🗯️ Stories of meals, marshes, gardens, and kitchens – written or just memories to share ✍️ Favourite recipes — smudged, typed, or half‑remembered 🫛 Ingredients grown, gathered, or simply loved 📒 Books, catalogues, clippings, foraging notes 🎣 Memories of fishing, foraging, cooking, preserving, and feasting. Every contribution will become part of a living, travelling portrait of what food means here and how it has shaped the peninsula, past and present. Free entry, no booking required — we look forward to seeing you there! ~~~~~~~~~~ ‘A Year Long Feast: The Hoo Heddern’ has been commissioned by Cement Fields and supported by Medway Council through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF). This event is kindly supported by WHOOP Heritage Festival.

Ebbsfleet Design Group 25/26 is a wrap! 🎉 Last week friends and family were invited to enjoy ‘Reciprocal Pavilion’ — a lakeside pop-up space and showcase of the Group’s work with @flimsy.works during this year’s programme ‘Reciprocal Space’, exploring reciprocity in design. “Young people were encouraged to think about how materials impact the landscapes they are extracted, stored on, or grown from. Together, we demonstrated how demountable construction can ensure materials stay in circulation and built self-supporting structures that reduced material use by relying on shorter or thinner sections. We tested all of these principles in the building of a Reciprocal Pavilion at Whitecliffe (formerly a chalk quarry) in Ebbsfleet Garden City. Designed to come together and apart in minutes, Flimsy guided the young people to prefabricate components and assemble. Simple techniques and accessible processes that relied minimally on tools were chosen, allowing construction to be as collaborative as possible.”🗯️ Flimsy All of the materials for the Reciprocal Pavilion are either waste or grown: 🪵 Timber salvaged from the film industry by @_recollective_ 🏴‍☠️ Reed for ‘thatch flags’ reclaimed by @_materialstore_ 🌳 Willow and Birch coppice from the lakeside itself supplied by Middlemarch and used to stiffen the benches 🌾 Straw grown in Kent and supplied by Glen Charter bundled or bagged to create cushions for sitting on 🧵 Inspired by tipis, six ‘sticks’ come together in the middle as a self-supporting structure, stabilised by a bag woven from Sittingbourne’s @hormozi_coffee coffee bags and filled with demolition rubble as ballast A huge thank you to Flimsy for being wonderful facilitators and to the whole Group for their enthusiasm, creativity and elbow grease — bring on Ebbsfleet Design Group 26/27! ~~~~~~~~~~ ‘Reciprocal Space’ was commissioned by Cement Fields. Ebbsfleet Design Group is delivered in partnership with @ebbsfleetgardencity Ebbsfleet Design Group is open and free to anybody aged 15–21, living in or near Ebbsfleet. If you are interested in joining the group or hearing more, contact us at [email protected] Photos courtesy of Flimsy Works

Join us at Whitecliffe Lakes this Friday for light bites and refreshments to celebrate the presentation of Reciprocal Pavilion — a new temporary structure for Ebbsfleet, co-created by Ebbsfleet Design Group and Flimsy. 🧰🌳 EDG supports local young people to explore the development of Ebbsfleet Garden City alongside artists, academics, and designers. Our 25-26 Group has been led by architectural designers and builders @flimsy.works . Their projects make the most of reclaimed and readily-available materials to build light and agile to make structures that tell stories about shifting landscapes like Ebbsfleet’s. The Group have been learning about how circular economy principles can be applied in Ebbsfleet in tandem with the self-supporting design of ‘reciprocal spaces’, demonstrating how straightforward architecture and engineering principles can change what we think is needed to make new spaces. Reciprocal Pavilion has been developed over three week-long Labs with the Group to be easily assembled and dissembled, inspired by the ideas they have put forward. The pictures above show the process behind an experimental prototype they built during their second Lab. From 1-2:30pm, come and see the structure, talk with the Design Group and Flimsy, and enjoy a lake-side ‘afternoon tea’-style sandwich spread, fresh juice and English sparkling wine. 🥂 → Whitecliffe Lakes, Ebbsfleet Valley → Friday 17 April, 1-2:30pm → No booking required We hope to see you there! ~~~~~~~~~~ Ebbsfleet Design Group is open and free to anybody aged 15–21, living in or near Ebbsfleet (including Dartford, Greenhithe, Swanscombe, Northfleet & Gravesend). Hit the link in our bio to learn more or sign up. The programme is supported by @ebbsfleetgardencity . Photos by Flimsy and @wainwrightsam .

📢 Announcing: ‘Intertidal Exchange’ — an international exchange programme that brings together UK artist Andrew Merritt (of @somethingandson ) and Thai architect Chatpong Chuenrudeemol (@chatarchitects ) to share their ongoing research into how informal architecture, sustainable building practices, and community action can respond to climate change. Andrew’s current project with Cement Fields, ‘Intertidal Allotment’, is creating a functional artwork and world-first shoreline community allotment on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent. Taking inspiration from the traditional allotment form, the project expands it into the intertidal zone, where tidal movements create a unique belt of biodiversity. Both a functional artwork and a co-created community asset, ‘Intertidal Allotment’ aims to create a sustainable modular system that responds to the needs of local people, supports Sheppey’s coastal ecology and is replicable in other locations. Chatpong has developed the concept of ‘bastard architecture’ — a form of vernacular architecture born of necessity, exemplified in his project ‘Angsila Oyster Scaffolding Pavilion’ in Chonburi province, Thailand, which literally builds upon the traditional bamboo scaffolding used for oyster cultivation to create a new community-owned space in the intertidal zone. Meanwhile, Chatpong’s ongoing project ‘Growing a New Rurbanism’, supported by Thailand’s Ministry of Culture, is exploring new ways of developing Thailand’s rural and coastal areas through new economies linked to local ecology, industry, and craft. Through reciprocal residencies in the UK and Thailand, Andrew and Chatpong will come together to share their work, discussing their process, learnings and outcomes. Exploring the parallels between their projects, they will share approaches to embracing vernacular styles, using locally available materials, and nurturing social enterprise. Stay tuned to see more from the exchange. 🤝 ~~~~~~~~~~ ‘Intertidal Exchange’ is supported by the @britishcouncil through their Connections Through Culture grants programme.

Join us at Whitecliffe Lakes next Friday to celebrate the presentation of Reciprocal Pavilion — a new temporary structure for Ebbsfleet, co-created by Ebbsfleet Design Group.👷‍♀️🛠️ ​Led by architectural designers and builders @flimsy.works , the Group has learned about the circular economy and re-use/re-purposing of materials to think about how the movement of materials impacts the landscapes they are extracted from, stored on, or grown in. ​With this in mind, they have explored ‘reciprocal spaces’ as a way of demonstrating how straightforward architecture and engineering principles can change what we think is needed to make new spaces, using locally-sourced ‘waste’ materials. 🪵🌾🪢 The Reciprocal Pavilion has been developed over three week-long Labs with the Group, inspired by the ideas they have put forward. It is designed to be easily assembled and dissembled as an agile, temporary structure which touches lightly on the ground. Hit the link in our bio for more info. 🔗 No booking required! ~~~~~~~~~~ Ebbsfleet Design Group supports local young people to explore the development of Ebbsfleet Garden City alongside artists, academics, and designers. It is delivered by Cement Fields in partnership with @ebbsfleetgardencity . Ebbsfleet Design Group is open and free to anybody aged 15–21, living in or near Ebbsfleet (including Dartford, Greenhithe, Swanscombe, Northfleet & Gravesend). If you are interested in joining the group or hearing more, contact us at [email protected].

Do you stammer? Composer and stammerer Jamie Hamilton @theironham ) is looking for people who stammer to participate in free creative workshops in North Kent, London, Bristol and online, to help create new music and multimedia work ‘A Mouth In Search Of A Voice’. 🗣️ Participants will collectively explore their voices with professional musicians through exercises drawn from theatre, music and storytelling - experimenting with the ways to navigate, reroute and reimagine language as stammerers. The material gathered will form a ‘recorded tapestry’ of stammered voices, woven into a new composition by Jamie and performed live by contemporary classic music group @phaedraensemble  in October 2026 at the Historic Dockyard Chatham (@dockyard.chatham ) and Arnolfini Bristol (@arnolfiniarts ). Open to anyone 14+ who stammers. No experience needed — just curiosity and a willingness to experiment with your voice. 🗓️ Workshop Dates: Wednesday 8 April, 7-9:30pm — Online Sunday 12 April, 12-4pm — Centre 151, London Saturday 18 April, 12-4pm — Sun Pier House, Chatham (15 places) You’ll be working in a group, in a welcoming, stammering-friendly environment, with an experienced support team on hand. If you have any questions about participating in the workshops, contact [email protected]. Sign up for free via the link in our bio. 🔗 ~~~~~~~~~~ ‘A Mouth In Search Of A Voice’ is commissioned by Cement Fields and Phaedra Ensemble, supported by Arnolfini and @stammauk . It is supported using public funding by the National Lottery through @aceagrams . Image: Jamie Hamilton and Phaedra Ensemble by Dimitri Djuric

A huge thank you to everyone who joined us @thriftandthrivemedway on Saturday with @cherrytruluck to explore the food culture of the Hoo Peninsula and feast with friends new and old! 🥣♥️ We tucked into a mouthwatering spread of rhubarb salsa, goats cheese and beetroot, squash salad, spring greens and pumpkin seeds, roast chicken with roast apples, roast potatoes and a scrumptious onion gravy, as well as an enormous rhubarb cream cheese crumble cake which was demolished in minutes! We hope you left with full bellies. 🍰 The meal wove together foraged herbs, farmers market finds, historic recipes, memories of meals cooked in kitchens across Hoo, and a whole lot of regional character, all gathered by Cherry in her mobile pantry ‘The Hoo Heddern’, which has been travelling the Peninsula asking “What does Hoo taste like?” Stay tuned for more to come from The Hoo Heddern and sign up to our newsletter via the link in our bio to hear about events like this and more. 🗞️ ~~~~~~~~~~ The Hoo Heddern has been commissioned by Cement Fields and supported by Medway Council through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF). Images by @wainwrightsam