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

This project is supported by:

BBC Farming Today visit Loddington

BBC Farming Today visited the Allerton Project to record some extracts for their programme on the recent floods. Presenter Charlotte Smith interviewed Alastair Leake and Phil Jarvis on a cold and frosty morning at Loddington.

Dr Alastair Leake with Farming Today producer Ruth Sanderson

Listen here to Saturday's programme

 

Allerton Project's 'bunded ponds' described in the broadcast

 



Allerton Visitors Centre Wins Pro Con Award

On Thursday 15th Nov at the Leicestershire Pro Con awards the Allerton Project's Visitors Centre won the sustainable building of the year award.

More than 600 people from property, construction and other businesses gathered for the tenth annual ProCon Leicestershire Awards, hosted by Tigers legend Peter Wheeler and a special guest, broadcaster Simon Fanshawe

Sustainable Development of the Year, sponsored by De Montfort University, went to the £405,000 Allerton Project Visitor Centre, at Manor Farm, in Loddington, near Market Harborough.

The scheme, submitted by architect Parkinson Dodson & Cheung, saw a brick animal shed given a new lease of life by a team of volunteers from companies involved in Leicestershire & Rutland ProHelp.

The conversion used materials sourced from the fields of the Allerton Estate, including straw and sheep fleece for insulation . Wood chips from the estate are fuel for the biomass boiler.

Architect Sylvester Cheung said: "The work was certainly a challenge. An educational vision which leads to an architectural project, through professional and community involvement to sourcing of materials – all show investment in our countryside should not be neglected and sustainable rural developments are achievable."

 

The Allerton Project staff with the team who assisted with the Visitors Centre

 

Alastair Leake on stage receiving the award from Simon Fanshawe

 

The 'Allerton Table', amongst 600 guests at the award ceremony

Visitors Centre shortlisted for 'Sustainable Development' Award

The new visitors centre at Loddington has been shortlisted in the Sustainable Development category at the  Leicestershire Property and Construction Awards. Its environmental features include

• rainwater harvesting
• sheep wool (therma fleece) roof insulation 
• solar panels
• wood chip boiler
• straw bales wall insulation
• grasscrete carpark
• recycled plastic fencing

Read more about the enrty herehttp://www.procon-leicestershire.co.uk/awards_categories_member_view.asp?ShortID=15&AwardID=64

 

The winner will be announced at the ProCon annual dinner on Thursday 15th November at the King Power Stadium, Leicester. ProCon is an organisation open to all those involved in the property and construction industries in the Leicestershire area.

Cover Crop Update

The catchy weather is proving challenging for the farm crops but the cover crops seem to be thriving. Below are a few photographs showing how they are progressing. Richard Barnes from Kings and Loddington keeper James Watchorn have overseen an interesting mixture of crops which have responded well to their management.

 

Maize alongside Chicory and Phacelia

Kale

Millet next to 2nd year Kale

Mustard, Kale and Fodder Raddish

The slug skirmish! Combining cultural and chemical approaches

 This season continues to be a challenging one and here is our approach in the battle against slugs. Rolling consolidates the ground and gives the slugs less room to move around, this slows down slug damage to our sown wheat seed. Rolling also helps seed/soil contact which assists germination and pushes large stones out of harms way.  Where possible we have drilled wheat seed slightly deeper than normal at 40mm. We have used metaldehyde for our first 'in field' application with ferric phosphate on the outside 6m. We are limited in the amount of metaldehyde we can use in the autumn and will switch to ferric phosphate as weather deteriorates.

before rolling......

after rolling!

Game cover and conservation crops coming on well

Despite the weather doing its very best to thwart the establishment of the game cover and conservation crops, the various plots around the farm are on the whole looking very good indeed. James Watchorn (our gamekeeper) has been working hard all through the summer (with technical support from Richard Barnes of Kings Game Cover and Conservation Crops) to ensure there is sufficient food and cover to support a host of game and farmland bird species through the coming winter.

Wild bird seed mixtures such as Moir Mix and Campaign Mix have replaced much of the maize area (some maize has been retained) providing a more diverse range of seed and cover as well as meeting our needs for the correct area of enhanced wild bird seed required by our HLS scheme. 

 

 

Areas of Kings kale blend have flourished with the recent warmer weather and the rainfall last week will keep the late sown catch crops growing through the autumn.

The plots were a useful backdrop for a GWCT Part Time Gamekeepers course held recently on the farm, which was attended by 14 enthusiastic game managers.

A selection of autumn sown nectar flower, wild bird seed and brood rearing crops are being planted this week to increase the range of habitats provided.