Big Ocean

KDC London were appointed as lead consultants by Forth Ports to develop plans to restore and re-use the Grade II* listed Tilbury Riverside site, comprising the disused historic railway station and landing stage.

We were commissioned to write and submit a £2.4m funding bid to Heritage Lottery Fund, with 50% match-funding secured from Port of Tilbury Ltd.

We devised the concept of the Big Ocean Project, the title for a unique collaborative project set to become the UK’s first National Museum of Migration. and conducted extensive local community and stakeholder consultation.

Tilbury Riverside is a unique and beautiful complex of forgotten heritage buildings on the Thames Estuary in Essex, built by Sir Edwin Cooper for the Port of London Authority in 1924 and remarkable for their historic significance. The liner terminal hosted one of the most significant events in Britain’s 20th-century social history: the arrival of the converted troop ship MV Empire Windrush in 1948. In the heyday of ocean voyages, tens of thousands passed through Tilbury Riverside embarking or disembarking from ships during onto glamorous & elegant passenger liners and steam trains, ready to cruise the world from this place of hope and aspiration.

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