Challenge

Nuclear fuel is a divisive matter, and whatever the current government thinking,
the closure of Sizewell A was never going to be a matter which was universally received in the same light. In addition, despite the scale of British Nuclear Fuels as an organisation, the community based around Sizewell is a close one, and people working at the plant are in some cases the fourth generation of the same family to
be employed there.

So when BNFL commissioned Spring to design, research, write and print the book which would celebrate the people who made Sizewell A work from 1964 to 2006 with an unblemished safety record, we knew we had a task in our hands which would need diplomacy and community spirit as much as design skill.

Inspiration

BNFL has a wonderful photo library of black and white shots from the 1960’s.
These were a great starting point for our work. We were then able to meet and interview a range of the team who had built, launched and manned the plant across the years, and chat to them about their experiences. These recollections have
been the basis for chatty copy which takes our book out of the ranks of standard
corporate commemorations.

We decided that the best way to map out the years was by running news events alongside private recollections. We researched national and international history and created a timeline which runs across all the page headers. This helps to put
the images and stories into an appropriate perspective.

Result

The whole project took over a year to create. The process enriched Spring by allowing us an insight into the working lives of a variety of people, and their communities and families. In that year we have been photographed with the FA Cup, attended tea parties at steam museums, been through countless security clearance processes and unearthed some fascinating facts about kittiwakes, plastic owls and divers with metal boots.

Along the way, we have also produced invitations, menus, provided all the décor and the photography for their end of generation party (two evenings with 1,500 attendees in total) and a variety of other pamphlets and posters.

The book is produced on recycled paper using vegetable inks, including the striking bronze on the cover.