Public Toilets design scheme
Central Way, opposite Upton
Street, Workington town 
centre
Workington's new public toilets, on the ground floor of
the multi-storey car park, opened on Monday 13
November 2006. Fish from the Solway swim in a
specially-designed tank in the communal entrance area, provided by
the Lake District Coast Aquarium in Maryport. Ceramic artist Paul
Scott and writer Robert Drake were commissioned
to collaborate on the design of visuals and text for
the tiles and doors of the toilets, and have also influenced
the colour scheme. Their innovative designs incorporate text and
images relating to Workington’s history, location and provenance
into the ceramic tiling scheme of the
toilets. The
colour scheme (coal black, steel grey and iron pink/red) was
inspired by West Cumbrian wagon cards.
The Water Cycle describes the
journey of water to the site of the toilets and runs horizontally
along the walls of the ladies and gents toilets. The History
Line is a floor to ceiling text in the communal area near the
toilets entrance. Each tile is based on a famous person, place
or event linked with Workington and the design is based on the
shape of old railway tickets. You Are Here….., which
features on the back of toilet doors, above hand driers and in baby
changing and disabled toilets, consists of facts relating to
different Workingtons around the world.
The toilets are staffed and managed by Allerdale Borough
Council and open every day during shopping hours. The artwork for
the toilets is one of several artists’ projects in Workington town
centre funded by £2.74m from the Northwest Regional Development
Agency and designed to improve public spaces in Workington. The
projects have been managed by Allerdale Borough Council and
Workington Regeneration in 
collaboration with Working pArts public art
consultancy.
About the artists
Paul Scott has exhibited in Europe, North America and Australia and
had a solo exhibition at Tullie House Museum & Art Gallery,
Carlisle in 2003. In 2001 he curated the touring exhibition
‘
Are You Sitting Comfortably?’ which involved artworks on,
in and made out of toilets. He has worked on a number of commission
projects in the North East and Cumbria and was one of three artists
who created a series of tile designs for Tongue Pier as part
of Harbour Lights, a public art project in Maryport. Visit his
website at
www.cumbrianblues.com
Robert Drake is a writer, willow grower and dry stone waller who
lives near Wigton. He has lived in Cumbria for most of his life,
has been writing and walling for twenty-five years, and started
growing willow in 2000. His stonework designs can be seen in
several places along West Cumbria's cycleway network. The public
toilet project is an exciting first-time collaboration with Paul
Scott. To find out more about Robert's willow-growing business,
visit his website at www.blencogowillow.com
Listen to artist Paul Scott discussing the toilets project:
http://planning.allerdale.gov.uk:8080/interview1.wma (part
1)
http://planning.allerdale.gov.uk:8080/interview2.wma (part
2)
With thanks to Paul Scott and toilet attendants Tony Gibson and
Graham Rundall. (Interview by Suzanne Dimmock)