How we built the sustainable Visitors Centre

The GWCT Allerton Project is not just a place of work, its also an important hub for our local community. Click on the image below to see how we constructed the new Visitors Centre

Click on image to view construction article




Pro Con Sustainable Development Winner 2012

Visit the Visitors Centre

Although research lies at the heart of all we do, we could not have predicted the number of people who would wish to visit the Allerton Project. In 1996 we invested £60,000 and converted a cattle shed into a small visitor centre. As time moved on, our research agenda has broadened from game management to biodiversity, soil management and water quality, renewable energy and waste recycling, and with it has grown interest in the Project. Increasingly people want to come and see the Project for themselves and this coupled with school visits and the introduction of training courses, has meant we have outgrown our existing visitor facilities.

In keeping with our ecological approach to land management we sought to design a building which stood on a brown field site, was constructed using 'green' materials (straw ball walls, sheeps wool insulation and a car park membrane made from recycled farm plastics) and was as environmentally benign as we could make it to operate (a bio mass boiler using wood chippings from our own farmland, rainwater harvesting for flushing the toilets and solar panels providing electricity). Thanks to the amazing assistance from the charity Pro-Help, we secured some expert help and submitted plans for a new building around three times bigger than the previous one. This incorporates a new toilet block, boiler house, kitchen, laboratory and store room, three meeting rooms with retractable screens, and a new entrance and car park.

After planning consent was granted, we applied to the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) and in December 2010 were offered a 60% grant towards the construction of the building. Work started at the end of last summer and as with all projects, particularly those involving non-standard features such as straw bale wall insulation, we have encountered our problems, but the fair weather allowed us to make up time and we were able to go ahead with a summer opening as planned.

This took place on the 26th June with a major open day in partnership with Linking Environment and Farming (LEAF) to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the generous and lasting bequest of Lord and Lady Allerton, known as the Allerton Project.


Rural Development Programme for England 2007-2013

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