Sustainable Textiles Centre by Hannah Finnigan-Moffat

Hannah Finnigan-Moffat’s Sustainable Textiles Centre is a student project about circular making, Nottingham’s Lace Market and how textile heritage can support a more sustainable public future.

The proposal, titled New Cycle, turns the idea of sustainable fashion into an architectural brief: workshops, classrooms, studios and community spaces where repair, making and local enterprise can sit together.

Project gallery

The gallery shows how the project uses massing, material reuse and open learning spaces to connect the Lace Market’s heritage with future textile production.

Project overview

Hannah is a University of Nottingham architecture graduate. Her final-year project is set in the Lace Market, where the city’s textile history gives the proposal its starting point.

Rather than treating heritage as something static, the project asks how an old industrial identity can become active again through circular fashion, skills, making and community learning.

Circular design strategy

• 52% of the proposal uses bricks salvaged from existing onsite structures.
• Additional masonry is sourced locally where possible.
• Repair workshops and classrooms make sustainability practical and visible.
• Studios support textile startups, local businesses and makers.
• Courtyards and shared spaces connect public learning with production.

Why the textile brief works

A sustainable textile centre is useful because it makes the environmental argument specific. The reader can understand what is being repaired, who uses the building, where the material comes from and how the local economy could benefit.

Architecture Social view

Stephen’s recruiter view is that sustainable design stands out when it is concrete. Salvaged material, repair spaces, local industry and user behaviour make the claim easier to trust.

Next step

Explore more Architecture Social projects, read the portfolio guide, or submit your own showcase.