Lancashire Wildlife Trust announce design winner of Brockholes visitor facility

Lancashire Wildlife Trust has announced the winner of its competition to design a visitor facility for the Brockholes Wetland and Woodland Nature Reserve, near Preston.

Adam Khan Architects was selected by the Trust for its inspirational design concept: "A Floating World", following an interview earlier this month (February 2008). Designed as a cluster of buildings constructed largely of wood and other sustainable materials, it resembles an ancient marshland village.

The brief for the competition was to design a suite of visitor facilities to inspire and encourage people to visit the site and engage with the natural world. The aspirational designs produced by the winning partnership include a reception area, shops, a cafe, conference facilities, classrooms and office space.

Brockholes was purchased by Lancashire Wildlife Trust at the end of 2006, with funding from the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA), through the Forestry Commission-delivered land regeneration scheme, Newlands.

Lancashire Wildlife Trust are now applying for further NWDA-funding under Newlands, to help develop the former quarry site into a premier wetland and woodland nature reserve and visitor facility, which could include the Khan designs. T he competition winners will also now work with the partnership to help progress the project.

Ian Selby, Brockholes Project Manager, said: "The judges, who included Wayne Hemingway, were impressed by Adam Khan's engaging manner and enthusiastic presentation. He has designed a stylish and functional range of buildings, with a close eye on the brief of functionality and sustainability. We look forward to working with him and his company as we strive towards bringing his concept to life".

Peter White, Executive Director of Development at the NWDA, said:

“This site has the potential to become an important visitor attraction for the region, building on its rich natural assets and impressive biodiversity. The Agency is supporting its development through Newlands, a wide reaching scheme that aims to reclaim brownfield land and transform it into thriving community open spaces, and has so far invested £800,000 in Brockholes. The chosen design will not only create an inspirational open space for the local community to enjoy but will also enhance a key gateway into Lancashire and attract further investment into the area and we look forward to working with our partners to progress these plans.”

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The competition was run by the Royal Institute of British Architects and attracted entries from all over the world.

Lancashire Wildlife Trust, Northwest Regional Development Agency and The Forestry Commission would particularly like to thanks all those architects who made it so difficult to select a winner.

ENDS

NOTES FOR EDITORS

• LWT can supply quality jpeg images suitable for use with specific articles and also generic images.
•  The Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside is registered as Lancashire Wildlife Trust (LWT), as a Registered Charity number 229325 and a Company limited by guarantee number 731548. LWT is dedicated to the protection and promotion of the wildlife in Lancashire, seven boroughs of Greater Manchester and four of Merseyside, all lying North of the River Mersey.
•  Newlands stands for New economic environments through Woodlands. Launched in the summer of 2003, Newlands is a unique £59 million scheme that is reclaiming large areas of brownfield land across England’s Northwest, transforming them into thriving, durable, community woodlands. It is the 21st Century face of land regeneration: carefully planned; intelligence-led; delivering widespread public benefits; enhancing the environment; and delivered through partnerships, most crucially that between the Northwest Regional Development Agency and the Forestry Commission. Commitment of funding for the 20-year scheme has been secured from the partnership that is supporting Newlands. Using aerial photography, the National Land Use Database and/or Unitary Development Plans, the DUN Survey, which formed the basis for the selection of Newlands sites found an astonishing 3,800 DUN sites of more than one hectare across the Northwest and of this amount, 1,600 were highlighted as a brownfield sites.
•  The Brockholes Woodland and Wetland nature reserve project will be developed through a unique partnership of the Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside, Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) and the Forestry Commission.
•  LWT provides protection for endangered species, owns and manages nature reserves, educates and inspires children to carry on the work, offers opportunities for people to volunteer in worthwhile conservation projects and campaigns at every level of government.
•  LWT manages 34 Nature Reserves covering 2000 acres of woodland, wetland, upland and meadow.
•  LWT welcomed nearly 7000 children to our Education Centres last year and they went away with an enthusiasm to help save wildlife.
•  LWT is involved with numerous community projects and provides specialist training for environmental volunteers.
•  LWT protects urban wildlife by creating green spaces in towns and promoting sustainable lifestyles.
•  LWT works with Local Authorities, influencing the decision makers and resisting developments that would damage wildlife habitat.

The Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside,The Barn, Berkeley Drive, Bamber Bridge, Preston, PR5 6BY.

Tel: 01772 324129

Fax: 01772 628849

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

Peter Mallon, Communications Officer, The Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside, Tel 01772 324129

Email pmallon@lancswt.org.uk

Faith Ashworth, Creative Concern, Tel 0161 236 0600

Email faith@creativeconcern.com

You can learn more about LWT ’ s work on our website: www.lancswt.org.uk