Page 70 - Beyond Decommissioning

The fundamentals of industrial redevelopment 51

make people understand why change is needed and how it is of their concern;
l
spread the vision of a new phase/new project as important and as much in need of qualified
l
personnel as the previous one;
create short-term wins by outlining early, handy objectives;
l
highlight intended long-term outcomes;
l
l whenever the circumstances allow, offer professional opportunities;
l train and qualify personnel to new conditions;
l facilitate mobility between job positions, allowing people to find the best fit position;
l award new responsibilities such as supervisory responsibilities for former workers;
l promote employment or the performance of practical interventions among the direct family
of the employees;
l facilitate integration into multidisciplinary teams (including contractors) where personal
experience is appreciated;
l link the departure of personnel wishing to leave the organization to the achievement of spe-
cific project objectives;
l implement a policy of evaluation (remuneration, performance awards) based on meeting
project objectives;
l provide good leadership with the commitment and skills to make change happen;
l communicate and engage simply, consistently and in a transparent way to peers, partners,
local communities, and other stakeholders;
l never give up—all parties need, and should encourage, determination, and resilience; and
l make change stay—to this end, culture needs to nurture change (Laraia, 2015).

2.8 The aesthetic factor

I get the feeling that people from outside the world of contemporary art see it as
deserving of mockery, in an emperor’s-new-clothes sort of way. I think that’s not right
and that it’s just because they don’t understand the discourse.
Rachel Kushner (1968–)

For a very long time, the aesthetics of nuclear buildings has been of concern to the
nuclear community. Needless to say, the concern was mainly placed on the siting and
construction phase of a NPP: actually an old case in question shows that the aesthetic
factor may even be decisive in the siting process. “In the aesthetic impact analysis of
the Greene County Nuclear Power Plant, vivid symbols of modern technology—a
domed reactor containment structure and a monolithic natural-draft cooling tower—
played the dominant roles in the conflict with a remnant landscape of America’s
romantic past. The analysis revealed, and the NRC (the US Nuclear Regulatory Com-
mission) affirmed, that the proposed plant would entail an unacceptable aesthetic
impact, beyond mitigation, on certain important local, regional, and national historic,
scenic, and cultural resources” (Petrich, 1982). Nonnuclear power stations built in the
first half of the 1900s were certainly worthy of architectural appreciation. Just look at
Battersea and Bankside (today’s home of Tate Modern). Giles Gilbert Scott’s
designs elevated those industrial facilities to the same architectural standing as
cathedrals or town halls—and gave London celebrated landmarks. The tradition