Summer 14 Update Including Karaoke!

All the living roofs at the Centre are looking lush and verdant after spring rainfall and sunshine:

 

Roundhouse roof

 

Recycling Centre Roof

 

 

Dean Garden Room roof

 

As well as looking good they provide habitats and food for insects and help with retaining storm run off

The willow sculptures above the Tunnel System are also bushing well since planting in January.

 

We have installed a new sliding and concertinaing wall in the Dean Garden Room that separates the end of the building into a separate meeting room. This can then be opened back to create a larger space.

 

We  have also now equipped the main room with disco and Karaoke equipment for use by groups which is proving popular! 



Opening Ceremony for The Dean Garden Room

Now that our fantastic new building is completed we couldn't let things pass without a celebratory event. So we put out the bunting and the Lord Mayor of Bristol kindly agreed to formally open it.

The Lord Mayor, Councillor Peter Main, unveiled The Dean Garden Room and then presented souvenirs to specially invited pupils from some of the schools that have visited over the last few months.

After this our 80+ guests all enjoyed a buffet lunch out on the deck. We were glad we'd had the canopy built when it sheltered us from a shower of rain.

Many of our guests then decided to have a go on our Zip Wire

Including The Lord Mayor in his Robes!

Some of our younger guests also had a go at a few of our other High Challenges. The sun came out and an enjoyable afternoon was had by all.

Nearly There!

We're on the home straight with the classroom construction and they've even started work on the landscaping outside. 

 

The deck now has a large canopy over much of it.

The Wood Pellet Boiler has been installed and is due to be commissioned next week.

And our new Field Study Laboratory poised over the pond is coming along nicely and already getting some very favorable comments

We've clad it using recycled cladding from the old classroom. The phoenix rising from the flames!

I expect our next Blog post will be to show you the completed works!

Classroom New Build

Snow is presently delaying the external finishes to the classroom build, but progress has been made since Christmas.

Fortunately the roof insulation and second weatherproof coating went on before the snow arrived!

Inside the electrics have all be installed. The roof lights are providing good internal light to the building in addition to the large glazed doors

The deck now has most of the ballustrading up and if you look past the snow you can envisage a group sitting there in the summer eating a packed lunch and looking out over the grounds to the climbing tower and zip wire!

The foundations have now been laid for our separate Laboratory building. This will be an octagonal structure poised over the pond on stilts with a decked bridge leading into it.

The posts, as seen above, are made of a special wood called Green Heart that doesn't decay in water. Once the snow goes this building should go up pretty quickly and we look forward to posting a photo of the finished product with the pond beneath. It will make a very apt place for students to study under a microscope the creatures they have found in the pond and stream.

Classroom Redevelopment Part 1

For the past 40 years our classroom buildings have provided a place for our groups to be briefed, do work in the evenings such as diary writing etc. and house our Field Study Laboratory with microscopes as part of our Stream Study Exercise. For day visit groups they provide a base for welcome briefings, leaving bags, changing clothing, eating lunch etc. They are also regularly used by other groups for a variety of activities varying from first aid courses to meeting rooms for corporate development groups or even a toddler group.

BUT, let's face it they were getting a bit tired looking! In fact if we are honest they were a bit like stepping into a draughty old mobile classroom from the 1950's! Except they predate that even by a few years. They weren't our biggest selling point but just about did the job. Fortunately as our courses are mostly outdoor-based and our visitors have such a great time in so many other ways they forgave us for what we lacked in the way of suitable indoor learning environments.

The classrooms were beyond economic repair and maintenance and for the last few years we have done very little to them. However we knew we needed to do something so in August this year we demolished them!

This wasn't as straightforward as hoped as they contained asbestos that needed specialist removal - see photos below:

 

The rest of the buildings came down fairly easily!

We are now left with a big empty area where the classrooms once stood.

In the coming weeks this area will be filled by a new purpose built classroom building that will be suitable to meet our needs into the future.

We will keep you up-to-date with progress through photos on this blog over the next few weeks.