On 24 May 2004 the following people participated in a one-day charrette focusing on access to the riverfront at Purfleet and took place at the Barrel Store, Purfleet, Thurrock.

Peter Beard is a London based architect and teacher whose work concerns the relationship between architecture and landscape, with a particular interest in the resettlement of post-industrial and post-military structures. He has taught at the Architectural Association since 1987 as well as at Cambridge University and in the landscape department at the University of Pennsylvania. Recent international competition successes include a commendation for the conversion of the former submarine base at Lorient, in Brittany, and a first-stage prize in the EU competition for the conversion of a former textile factory in Glauchau, Saxony. He has worked as a design adviser to the Greater London Authority Architecture and Urbanism Unit and the London Development Agency, and has recently been awarded a three-year fellowship by NESTA (the National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts), to develop his work in the field of postindustrial and postmilitary landscapes.

Kerstin Bergendal is a visual artist based in Denmark. Her site specific and socially oriented work has been exhibited in Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Poland, Germany and France. Concerned with the mandate for the artist in contemporary society, she has conceived and realised a series of temporary platforms from which artists may operate. She is currently working on Our Playground 2004, which explores possible models for children to inform the planning processes affecting their physical environment. In 2001, Kerstin developed the conceptual Kunstplan Trekroner, which advocated the participation of visual artists in the urban planning of a new university suburb for the city of Roskilde. She is now leading on the realisation of this project by inviting artists to work in partnership with architects and planners, and by establishing a collaborative network for the new inhabitants to influence the development of the suburb’s character through temporary art works.

Timothy Collins is an artist and interdisciplinary academic interested in the relationships between art, environment and planning. He is currently director of 3 Rivers - 2nd Nature, a five-year project assembling a team of artists, scientists, designers and students to work together on the waterfronts of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, USA. During 2004, he is organising a public programme, conference and exhibition to elucidate international approaches to art, ecology and planning. From 1997 – 2000 he co-directed the Nine Mile Run project, most recently presented at the "Ecoventions" exhibition, Cincinnati, Ohio. Tim served as Associate Professor of Art at Carnegie Mellon University from 1993-1997. Current projects with his partner and colleague Reiko Goto include: Green Visions – Grey Infrastructure, a curriculum module in its third year of development, Cultura 21, an agriculture and art programme in Saxony, Germany, Charlotte - Second Nature at the Tryon Center for Visual Art North Carolina, Watermark at the Ludwig-Forum Museum in Aachen, Germany and A Liquid Evaluation of the Brooklyn Waterfront for Creative Time, New York.

Harry Gugger is an architect and has been a partner at Herzog & de Meuron, Switzerland, since 1991. His past work includes the two Signal Boxes and the Engine Depot (1991-1995) for the Swiss Federal Railways in Basel, Tate Modern in London (1998 - 2000), and the Head Office for Prada in the USA (2000-2002). More recently, the Schaulager Laurenz Foundation in Munchenstein/Basel was completed in 2003 and the Laban Dance Centre in London (2000 - 2003) was awarded the 2003 RIBA Stirling Prize. He is was visiting professor at the Hochschule für Architektur und Bauwesen in Weimar, Germany (1994) and taught at ETH in Lausanne, France in 2001.

Christopher Moller (Facilitator) is a Netherlands-based architect/urbanist and the founding partner of both Studio 333, in 1990, and S333 in 1997. He also works as a senior urbanist for the City of Groningen, NL and is a member of the GRAS architecture centre 'Think Tank'. Chris has practised as a project and design architect in New Zealand, Hong Kong and the UK and has planning and urban design experience from time spent working for Terry Farrell and Partners in London. In Groningen, he was responsible for the restructuring of the Zuid-Oost Industrial Area, the Urban Redevelopment Plan for Europaark with Wiel Arets and the Redevelopment Plan of the Central Station with Kees Christiansee. Current projects include the realisation of the Urban Development Plan for the new town centre of Nieuw Vennep, Groningen’s Eikenlaan Tram Regeneration Framework and the ‘Oldham Beyond’ regeneration project. He also teaches at the Academy of Architecture, Groningen and is Design Tutor at the Post Graduate Housing and Urbanism Unit, the Architectural Association, London.