The functional artwork project by Andrew Merritt takes inspiration from the traditional allotment form and expands it into the intertidal zone

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The National Lottery Community Fund has awarded £678,500 to Kent arts organisation Cement Fields for the delivery of Intertidal Allotment, a long-term project by artist Andrew Merritt, creating a functional artwork and world-first shoreline community allotment on the Isle of Sheppey.

The funding, granted via the Climate Action Fund, will support Intertidal Allotment from 2026-31, enabling the development of a series of interconnected growing plots around the Isle of Sheppey which aim to build climate resilience, support local food production, revive and develop new eating habits, and restore coastal biodiversity.

Andrew Merritt’s Intertidal Allotment takes inspiration from the traditional allotment form and expands it into the intertidal zone – the area of the seashore that is both covered at high tide and uncovered at low tide – where tidal movements create a unique belt of biodiversity, allowing a variety of organisms, including seaweeds, shellfish and crustaceans to thrive, alongside coastal edible flora such as kales, cabbage and beets.

The first phase of the project was delivered from 2021-26 with support of Arts Council England and an initial development grant from The National Lottery Community Fund. This second phase will expand the number and type of sites used – to include shingle, salt-marsh, and estuarine – scaling up the ability to grow different foods, developing new forms of land stewardship and community ownership.

A programme of year-round public events, including walks, talks, and hands-on workshops will empower local people to take an active role in supporting and shaping the project. Eating events and a new series of recipes will introduce people to the possibilities of the intertidal zone as a growing and harvesting space with abundant potential.

This next phase includes plans to establish a production and propagation centre in Sheerness, where intertidal structures will be fabricated. This space will host local people and train them in the skills and techniques needed to become active participants in the construction and maintenance of the allotment, exploring traditional craft and innovative bio-based materials.

It will also see Andrew collaborate with guest architects and designers to build three permanent communal spaces on the allotment plots. These architectural interventions will provide the plots creative solutions for storage, growing, and community gathering.

By 2031, the Allotment will be a community-owned, co-managed series of plots with skilled local caretakers and an established local food supply, and provide the blueprint for a new modular and sustainable system that can be replicated in other coastal locations.

Andrew Merritt - photo by Sam Wainwright

Jon Davis, Director of Cement Fields, said “We are hugely grateful to the National Lottery Community Fund for this significant contribution to our work in North Kent. It marks a landmark investment in our organisation, supporting us to deliver innovative projects which are locally embedded but have national importance in response to global challenges. Climate change is responsible for some of the most critical challenges facing our communities and Intertidal Allotment enables us to work alongside Andrew Merritt and the residents of the Isle of Sheppey over a sustained period of time to explore new models of community stewardship of land, sea and food systems.”

Liz Watchorn, Head of Funding at The National Lottery Community Fund, said: “Intertidal Allotment is a brilliant example of how environmental action can bring communities together in practical, creative and hopeful ways. By connecting local people with their coastline, food systems and natural environment, the project will help build skills, confidence and long-term resilience for the future. We’re proud to support Cement Fields and local partners through the Climate Action Fund as they develop an ambitious model that could inspire learning and action in coastal communities far beyond the Isle of Sheppey".

Andrew Merritt, Artist, said “Intertidal Allotment builds off my practice in developing social and environmental art driven projects that are long term and experiment in new ways of living within natural systems again. Finding funding to support this type of work is rare so the Climate Action Fund is a shining light at a critical point for the project and for the planet. I am very thankful to both Cement Fields and the National Lottery Community Fund for providing the opportunity to carry on developing Intertidal Allotment.”

About Andrew Merritt

Andrew Merritt works as a solo artist and as one half of visual arts practice Something & Son. Merritt's work explores social and environmental issues via everyday scenarios, criss-crossing the boundaries between the visual arts, architecture and activism. Through permanent installations, functional sculptures and public performance, works provide a framework or foundation for communities and ecologies to build upon.

Alongside exhibitions projects can often be long term providing the space for new communities and ecologies to grow, these include Farmshop, the award winning art and food project that turned an empty building into an experimental farm utilising both new and traditional food growing techniques; Makerversity located in Somerset House, that since 2014 has been supporting creative practices with workshops and work space, to experiment and prototype in; and currently in development Slow Disasters set in the UK, South Africa and Mexico that adapts disaster relief infrastructure to nurse landscapes back to health.