Beyond artistic endeavour, the project played a significant role in local heritage preservation. Murray Martin, a founding member of Amber, joined with Brian Mills, owner of Newcastle Bookshop, to form an informal action committee. Through a contact in the Department of the Environment, they secured listed status for many of the buildings on the Quayside, helping protect the area's architectural legacy.

The project reflects Amber's wider commitment to combining documentary work with community action, using photography and film to record, reflect and support local histories.

Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen is a Finnish-born documentary photographer who has chronicled working-class life in North East England since the late 1960s.

A co-founder of the Amber Film and Photography Collective, her acclaimed work, including Byker and Step by Step, offer significant portrayals of the lives of everyday people in the North East. In 2011 her photography was inscribed onto the UNESCO Memory of the World Register as of national significance to the UK due to her embedded practice and historically vital portrayals of local communities. In 2025 Konttinen was awarded an MBE in the 2025 New Year’s Honours list for her services to photography.