5104 Negotiated Practice: Bournville Project

Project Brief:

The Brief

What does it mean to negotiate a site? You will inevitably need to negotiate the physical geography, how do you get from one place to another? There will be multiple social interactions that need to be negotiated. Can a site be understood through an exploration of its surface alone? What of its history? How do you better understand contemporary places and situations through the study of historic events and archival material?

Your role on this module is to negotiate a specific site, to find things that awaken your curiosity, and maintain your interest. You need to negotiate strategies for communicating your findings in a responsive way.

The Site

“The founder is desirous of alleviating the evils which arise from the insufficient and insanitary accommodation supplied to large numbers of the working classes, and of securing to the workers in factories some of the advantages of the outdoor village life.”

George Cadbury, written in the Deed establishing the Bournville Village Trust in 1900

The Bournville experiment arose out of George Cadbury’s religious beliefs and his business concerns. Teaching men to read in adult schools had convinced him that it was “impossible for a workman living in a back street of Birmingham to keep steady and bring up his children well”. Equally, he was concerned about the physical deterioration of the workforce. “If a man works in a factory by day and sits in a public house by night,” he argued, “what can you expect but a poor emaciated creature without physical or moral strength.”

You must identify what is interenting to you about this site and allow yourself to sink into it and to share this interest through the production of new work. You will work collaboratively where it is needed and support each other by offering technical assistance and critical appraisal. Consider these broad questions as starting points:

What is Bournville?

What is its use?

What is beneath its surface?

Is it important?

Why is it important?

For assessment you need to produce:

1. A video response to the question

2. A printed response to the question

3. An edited blog that documents your research material (Research in this instance will be specifically related to Bournville, its structures, or the people that use/used it), and the technical and practical processes of making your work.

Your starting point is purposely broad. You may wish to consider what Bournville has been historically, what it is now or what it may be in the future. These possible trajectories will also need to be broken down further as you make your pitch for what is interesting to you. We will spend some time helping you to discover what this may be but remember, it is important that you find your own voice and direction in your response. The richness of the site accommodates, demands even, a broad and inquisitive interoperation on you behalf.

Through workshops, tutorials and presentations there will be an emphasis on Finding things out, sorting your information and interpreting your findings in an appropriate and responsive way.

You need to show evidence of Extended knowledge, developed skills and critical understanding. Ensure that your blog reflects this.

Initial ideas about Bournville 

Map of the Birmingham to London Railway, used to transport the raw materials from around the world too make the chocolate and the made Chocolate to all regions of the UK and Abroad.

Transporting raw materials into Cadbury’s

The Cadbury factory was reliant on the canals for milk delivery too their factory  and on the railways for cocoa deliveries from the ports of London and Southampton.

They therefore when choosing a new site to situate there factory they needed a site which was undeveloped and had easy access to both canal and rail.

The Cadbury brothers combined there plans too move there factory with the proposed development of the Birmingham West Suburban Railway, which would extend from central Birmingham south along the path of the Worcester and Birmingham Canal into the then green fields of southern Birmingham, placing there factory in the perfect place to utilise both the railway and canal access to the city centre and wider. 

Transporting Cadbury’s Chocolate around the country 

Sidings into the Cadbury factory were first laid in 1884 and one steam locomotive was used. Later a small bridge was constructed over the Birmingham West Suburban Railway into 'Waterside Sidings' alongside the Birmingham and Worcester canal. The sight of steam locomotives in these sidings will be familiar to anyone who travelled into Birmingham New Street from the Worcester or Gloucester lines.

The Cadbury script logo, based on the signature of William Cadbury, appeared first on the transport fleet in 1921. It was quite fussy to start with and has been simplified over the years. It wasn't until 1952 that it was used across major brands.

The train stations use in tours around the Cadbury factory 

There was also a railway station alongside the factory at Bournville that had opened on 3rd April 1876 with the rest of the Birmingham West Suburban Railway. The current station is now painted purple and is called 'Bournville for Cadbury World'. The 'Cadbury World' visitor centre is one of the premier tourist locations in the West Midlands and attracts thousands of visitors from all over the world. 'Cadbury World' is a short walk away around the side of the chocolate factory. The 'Cadbury World' visitor centre replaced the former organised tours of the factory.