Grimsby’s inspiration-providing box park has been given its voice.
Projekt Renewable has launched the , as the expanding town centre facility prepares to open the door on the largely hidden industries providing bright futures.
Representatives from companies making major strides, Myenergi and Phillips 66, joined project director Richard Askam, marketing agency Knapton Wright and creative force The Culture House to explain the importance of what is being delivered and how - be it via pipelines under the sea or huge turbines now miles out and towering above it. And the session started with an explainer on what exactly Net Zero is, in an attempt to cut through jargon which could switch off young minds.
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“We need to help people in the local area, and wider area, to understand the very thing we are talking about,” Mr Askam said by way of an introduction. “Industry has developed beyond the consumer; the consumer doesn’t know what’s happening for them, their children or grandchildren. One of the mantras of this project at Alexandra Dock is to show this is happening.”
Virtual reality and other immersive tools will be used to bring the containers to life in the coming weeks, with key partners being added and phase two well in the making.
Chris Gilbert, Humber decarbonisation manager for Phillips 66, is passionate about ensuring a future workforce is aware of the opportunities ahead, while underlining what is happening now. He said: “We have got some of the largest wind farms off the coast here, the amount of renewable energy we have brought forward in 10 years is significant, we’re certainly already on the journey to Net Zero.
“We are already running waste feedstocks at the refinery. Used cooking oil is allowing us to make sustainable aviation fuel, and we’re selling that to British Airways. That’s happening now in this region. We’re trialling another waste feed, end-of-life tyres. We’re recycling the metal, producing a liquid and running it into the refinery, and that goes into products we need today.
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“Change is happening now. We should be proud of what we do industry-wide as a region. We should be ambassadors for that, out there educating people about what we do. We serve a purpose here to provide the rest of the country with the energy, goods and services they need. We should be proud of it and encourage people to come into the industry.”
Talk moved to what people can do in their own ‘square metre’, with Alex Wright, founder of Brigg-based Knapton Wright, stating how it was important to bring it home.
“My children will be around my age when Net Zero target hits, it feels a long way away. It helps us to plan to be better, and helps focus the mind.”
Pete Cox, Myenergi’s sales manager, said: “It sounds overwhelming, but if we can break it down it helps.” He talked about looking out for B-Corp certification on products, while installing solar panels at home. Food miles and even not overladening emails with attachments were all considered alongside generational staples of recycling and reusing.
Charlotte Bowen, director of The Culture House, included Projekt Podkast in the project, a creative and innovative focus on Grimsby’s place in the world.
She said: “The current programme is about giving attention to sustainable futures and more caring, holistic communities we may want to live in. The last couple of decades have been personally indulgent, based on consumerism and we are paying the price of that now, clearly with the impact of the industrial revolution over time. We’re all aware of that impact and trying not to be down about it.
“The gift artists and creatives bring to a situation is interpreting high-end information and bigger picture stuff, and interpreting it into something wonderfully creative, and telling the story. Not just about that big thing, but the town and where it is heading.I know that Projekt Renewable is doing this. It is telling that story of the role Grimsby is playing and what is going on in the town.”
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In launching, , the significance of the ‘special K’ was also revealed.
Mr Askam told how the Scandinavian spelling of ‘project’ was chosen because of the culture’s emphasis on learning through play. “That’s the reason why they are miles ahead, because we need to change the way we deliver that message,” he said. It starts now.