Even somewhere as inauspicious as the Beckton Alp, a toxic 19th century spoil heap, is redolent with value for the people who use it.

Despite the only way in being a hole illegally made in the fence, the alp is a vibrant social space used by a diverse range of people for the kinds of adventure we just don’t have anymore.

During three months residency in a portacabin at the base of the alp we observed and documented use and evidence of use, both human and otherwise.

In 50 days of actual presence on site, over 300 people were observed.







The paradox of this “bad” landscape as also a place of the sublime and of adventure was tested during the residency by hosting social encounters. One of these encounters was an invitation to lunch below the summit extended to the scaffolders from the yard at the base of the alp. Both tested scenarios and observed use formed a brief to return the alp as a fully accessible, social, bioremediated landscape, but one that retains the intrinsic qualities that make it so beguiling.

The concept for bioremediation is to treat the surface rainwater as both a source of pleasure and potential poison and by making visible a treatment system so reference the hidden marsh landscape now sealed away beneath the surface. 

The design will separate the surface water from the leachate, rills and pools with reed beds as green sponges will cleanse the less toxic surface run off, and will keep it as far as possible from penetrating the reinstated clay capping.  

That water which does penetrate the cap will percolate through the toxins and as leachate will be collected at the base in an enclosed chamber, the “bad” water will be pumped up using renewable energy to be let down again through an enclosed serial system to filter out the toxins.   

The proposal is for a hybrid landscape of remediation and the sublime, for adventure and for the knowledge of risk.  The form this landscape may take is evidenced through the natural and cultural history collection of the alp. This collection is based the Enlightenment tradition of knowledge through observation and comprises of artifacts and “specimens” entirely constructed from material found on site. The Collection is cultural evidence of the value of the intrinsic paradox of the alp.

The collection was made in collaboration with local individuals and organizations, the Beckon adult education art class made landscape paintings, the director of the local undertakers narrated a roll call of loss, the Over 50s book club donated memories and a botanical illustrator made drawings of constructed species.


Date: Wednesday 19.03.08
Time: 09.05-17.30
Weather: very cold, showers on arrival, with bursts of sunshine and wind throughout the day. black clouds and blue sky
Methodology: 
work on samples in laboratory.
complete inventory of rubbish collected from viewing platform territory on the 19.02.08. (cans)
inventory as follows:
215 x lager
15 x bitter
40 x cider 
6 x energy drink
23 x soft drink
3 x aerosols
collect rubbish from amphitheatre territory and document:
inventory as follows:
6 x glass bottles (complete) 3 x smashed
28 x assorted plastic bottles
7 x plastic paint bottles
2 x juice cartons
20 x soft drinks cans
5 x energy drink cans
1 x soup can
1 x deicer
1 x french polish
2 x deodorant
4 x spray paint
4 x golf balls
2 x footballs
1 x painters stool top
1 x labelled block of wood (709N)
3 x H shaped metal sections
1 x bmw hubcap
1 x welcome mat
4 x o'keefe construction delivery slips
1 x condom
1 x luggage strap
1 x tshirt
1 x football boots
1 x work glove
3 x bottle tops
1 x plastic bowl
1 x plastic golf pitch and putt target
1 x plastic fork
2 x lighter
1 x bike light
1 x pen
1 x danger batter unstable notice
1 x asda sign
1 x savacentre drinks club sign
3 x fireworks
Tools used:
none recorded
Samples to laboratory: 
1 x headless teddy bear
1 x pair of slippers
2 x patterned sheets of fabric
1 x china doll
2 x footballs
3 x golf balls
4 x o'keefe delivery slips
3 x bottle tops
1 x welcome mat
1 x pair of football boots
1 x labelled blocks of wood
1 x pot of soil from the viewing platform area
Human occupation off alp site:
15.30 solitary male walks along perimeter path from east to west, stops to observe us lifting trolley over fence, walks past, turns around to photograph us with mobile phone to be photographed himself.
Human occupation on alp site:
09.20 solitary male at summit, walks from platform takes in the view and ten leaves promptly.
09.40 runner appears coming down south pathway (katherine)
12.20 two older gentlemen, late 50's, on platform, exit via fence
13.35 boy (16) at top of path to the north east, looks at me looking at him and then exits to the west, behind the summit.
13.45 boy seen at 13.35 settled on north west alcove with younger girl, getting very amorous
15.50 man on path next to viewing platform shouting very loudly in eastern european language on the telephone, continues for about 10 minutes
Non human occupation on site: 
1 x magpies
4 x bumblebees
small white snails not seen anywhere else on alp as yet, in amphitheatre area
rats and mice near tollgate road
worms
Ambient sounds: 
10.30 drilling
ice cream chimes
lots of birdsong
13.45 comedy hgv horn
industrial clanging
Ambient smells: 
sewage
Remarks:
remove 14 bags of rubbish from the site.  find a school bag behind north face of summit, about to rummage through it, when the boy observed from 13.35 appears.  hardly any rubbish around the amphitheatre area, a only two alcoholic drinks collected. (could be due to the observed occupation within the territory being significantly younger than anywhere else on site)
floor to the west of amphitheatre is covered with what looks like pearl barley.
Occupation images:
Inventory images (viewing platform):
inventory images (amphitheatre):
Samples to laboratory 
images:
Date: Tuesday 18.02.08
Time: 09.40-17.20
Weather: Very cold (4c) overcast, with breaks of sunshine at 13.00, cloudy from 13.30
Methodology: 
continued work on samples in laboratory. 
wider context survey east along Greenway through fenced off scrub land west of Tesco and down towards the DLR depot. Stumble across the strange ghost of the slip road to the truncated flyover that will one day be the river crossing
Tools used:
none recorded
Samples to laboratory: 
none recorded
Human occupation off alp site:
15.30 a very unhappy child crying for 30 minutes approximately, not wanting to leave the retail park
Human occupation on alp site:
15.00 two boys (16), not in school uniform, on wooden platform looking down towards retail park, with another, in uniform, pushing his bicycle, up the steep slope towards the viewing platform.
15.05 five boys (12/13) running down slope, in school uniform, convene to the left of the concrete plateau
16.50 solitary school boy walking down south face, approaches amphitheatre
18.00 man enters from wooden platform and ascends carrying tripod, sets up camera looking west, allow a wide berth so as not to spook him but he opens conversation about the wind, he is a "switching engineer" working on a tower under construction at Canary Wharf, from Leeds, he is billeted in Ilford and on way in over the last 2 weeks earmarked the alp as a perfect vantage to photograph his work in the setting sun, he was incredulous this had once been a ski slope and marveled at its idiocyncratic urban presence.
Non human occupation on site: 
none recorded
further afield on slip road large fox and in scrub land numerous rabbits
seen off by Japanese fighting dog on Greenway
coloured trotting pony on Tollgate road
3 mice and 1 rat in bushes on Tollgate road
horse heading west through retail park north of Greenway
Ambient sounds: 
lots of wind
laughter
birdsong
industrial clanging
Ambient smells: 
none recorded
Remarks:
Occupation images:
inventory images:
none taken
samples to laboratory images:
none taken
Date: Friday 14.03.08
Time: 09.50-17.30
Weather: overcast with sunny spells, mild
 
Methodology: 
project review and visit the archives of london borough of newham
Tools used:
none recorded
Samples to laboratory: 
none recorded
Human occupation off alp site:
none recorded
Human occupation on alp site:
none recorded
Non human occupation on site: 
none recorded
Ambient sounds: 
none recorded
Ambient smells: 
none recorded
Remarks:
conduct research in the archives into lost industry and local deaths, from 1895 onwards. 
source maps and historical images
Occupation images:
none taken
Inventory images:
none taken
Samples to laboratory images:
Date: Wednesday 12.03.08
Time: 09.30-18.00
Weather: very windy, overcast clearing to sunshine
Methodology: 
Jack and Mark from the Grant Museum of Zoology conduct quadrant surveys along lines dissecting identified territories on the alp.  Remove samples to prepare as specimens.
work on samples in laboratory.
Tools used:
none recorded
Samples to laboratory: 
1 x watch without face
1 x brunette hairpiece
Human occupation off alp site:
09.30 incredibly fashionable young man walks from west to 
east of alp site down alpine way, looks completely off course.
12.30 eastern european male, mid twenties knocks on cabin door to enquire about renting car park space.  
12.45 R_____ father arrives in white van to collect the found school bag collected  and recorded 11.03.08,  the bag had been stolen from his van in East 
Ham.
15.05 man and young girl recorded at 14.50 enter retail park
17.35 young couple, early twenties knock and ask for 
directions to B & Q
Human occupation on alp site:
12.10 jack and mark running forwards and backwards against the wind on summit.
12.30 jack and mark climbing down slope with string towards 
concrete platform.
14.45 thirteen school children ascend from platform to summit, some swinging bags, all run from top of alp to bottom, and gather to the left of amphitheatre near to site that jack and mark are surveying.
14.50  man and young girl 
ascend from viewing platform to summit, he points out various sights to her
15.10 four teenage girls walking towards summit from viewing platform
17.00 two older teenage boys 
smoking at summit
Non human occupation on site: 
snails
Ambient sounds: 
as before 
Ambient smells: 
wet dirt
sewage
Remarks:
no new rubbish at summit or by platform.
Occupation images:
Inventory images:
none taken
Samples to laboratory images: