This work was made in response to the dramatic rise in new student accommodation developments in Shieldfield, Newcastle. A collaboration between community group Dwellbeing and Newcastle University Planning students, the work traces the value and ownership of the new student residences. The work tells a story of a neighbourhood caught in the middle of a global land and development market. For some residents, the estate of Shieldfield has become an island, leaving people feeling ‘hemmed in’ by new developments that are physically and socially disconnected from the wider neighbourhood. The land titles for all twenty student accommodation blocks was bought, tracing the owner, their location, how much they paid for the land and the date of purchase. This was mapped and then each of the new student accommodation buildings was recreated for the exhibition using handmade bricks. The size of each model corresponds to the amount paid for the land, with each brick worth £250,000. 

Image credit: Matthew Pickering