The project ‘Tangling Blue into Grey’ is a continuously expanding network of sustainable drainage systems, monitored by a community lab on the edge of the River Don. Through collaborative participatory design, a statement of sounds, and improved access to the River Don; the project aims to inspire and empower the community to drive a growing network towards wider scale changes. The ambition of the scheme is for scientific and social success to lead towards influencing a change in the way our regulatory bodies, local authorities and designers view the issue of flooding and SuDS in architecture and our urban environment.

The lab itself is a retrofit and refurbishment of the historic Neepsend Post Office, allowing a building that was once a space valuable to the community to be revived as such in a sustainable way. The final design encompasses a central base for the community to explore the identity of the River Don and its neighborhood, in conjunction with spaces of education and collaboration on the upper floors. The scheme also provides a workshop space for creation of ideas and interventions. The design has grown from field work and mapping, realising the importance of sound in the identity of Neepsend, and creating spaces for inspiration by celebrating the sounds of the Don and rainwater through playful pipes