In October 2003, the East of England Development Agency launched Landmark East, an international design competition calling for visionary ideas for a regional Landmark for the East of England. The competition attracted 234 entries, of which four entries were chosen from an initial shortlist of 12.  One of the four winning entries was our idea - East Reef.

“This was a very bold proposal that if done well could generate a lot of benefit to the region, with the added value of having appeal to a broad cross section…as an idea in its infancy, it had enormous potential. As the team demonstrated vision and ambition they were applauded and the idea's feasibility considered worthy of further exploration.”                                                                                           
                                                                                                                          Landmark East Jury Report 2004

East Reef was initially inspired by a desire to celebrate East of England’s unique asset – its wonderful coastline.  However, with sea levels rising 4 mm every year, coastal flooding and erosion is also a region-wide issue. East Reef, originally proposed on the North Norfolk Coast, was an idea for a new sustainable coastal community built around a new marina and protected by offshore breakwaters.  An existing artificial reef coastal protection scheme at Sea Palling on the Norfolk Coast was our inspiration but we found the reefs themselves hostile and we felt that there was a missed opportunity to add value to these engineering structures.  We envisage that at East Reef, the offshore breakwaters would be accessible and themselves linked by a sculptural sweeping promenade, a golden ribbon of light out at sea.  We envisage that a new tropical diving centre, the first of its kind anywhere in the UK, would occupy some of the reefs.  Other watersporting activities would be encouraged around the reefs within the safe golden sandy bays created behind these new sea defence structures.