The Roof Is On

The new classroom is now weather tight and has the first layer of roof covering on. This will later be covered with insulation and a wild flower meadow to finish. Standing up there you get a good view over to the main Centre building, seen in the photo above and also to the station and surrounding forest. This will be a view that all can share as there will be staircase access to the roof and a viewing platform! More info about this in the future. The two roof lights will bring more light into the interior of the building meaning low need for additional daytime lighting.

Another key design feature which is looking great are the 5.5m bi-fold doors that open out on to the deck. This really will open the inside into the outdoors and vice versa. The deck will become an extension of the inside space and will later have a canopy installed.

The log cabin style wall and ceiling shown above is the both the structure of the building and the final interior finish to the room. We think it looks great and gives a Scandinavian feel to the building whilst also reflecting the use of the trees and forest that surround the building.

Up To Roof Height in a Week

It's only a week since we last posted and you can see there's been plenty of progress despite the weather. The Classroom walls (including internal ones) are all up to roof height and they're starting to put the roof beams on today.

The front deck is also mostly done and gives a good impression of how spacious it will be. You can also get a good appreciation of the size of the 5 metre bi-fold patio doors that will open on to the deck.

 Internally you get a feel of how good the wood finish will be. Presently you can also see the puddles from the heavy rain we've had. We're looking forward to the roof going on in the next week to get it weather tight.

It's Rising Out Of The Ground!

Our new classroom building is finally rising out of the ground! Rather soggy wet ground that is, after probably our worse spell of weather this year.

The construction workers have coped with horrendous wet weather over the last 24 hours but the building is beginning to take shape. We can already see the layout of the rooms and get an impression of the size.

It basically goes together like lego! One beam slots on top of another. We should now see some rapid progress in the next few days.

Classroom Foundations

The foundations are now in place for our fantastic new classroom to go up. The framework base to go on the foundations arrives tomorrow and then it should start to go up quickly.

We'll keep you posted as it rises out of the ground.

Classroom Redevelopment Part 2

Construction of our new classroom is due to start in a couple of weeks. The project has taken nearly four years of planning and preparation to reach this stage. Firstly we had to finance it and this has been achieved completely from the Centre's resources. We first sold the 'Warden's House' which was next door to the Centre and surplus to requirements. This provided half of the capital required. Then over the last four years we put aside some of our revenue each year to make up the surplus to finance the project.

Plans for our new classroom

The building has been designed to reflect the environmental values we teach at the Centre. It is going to be made of timber and constructed similar to a log cabin. It will have superior insullation with U-Values <0.16. Heating will be provided by a wood pellet boiler. There will be a wild flower living roof and a raised deck at the front covered by a canopy which will provide a good place to eat lunch. An even better view of the Centre Grounds will be had from a viewing area on the roof! The building itself will be used as an environmental activity by students learning about sustainability and the environment. Various orientation displays and 'peep through' features in this 'eco' building will allow students to discover more about its susatinability. 

 Inside the building there will be room  to seat our usual maximum group size of 70 staff and students. The room will be able to set out either lecture style or classroom and tables style. One third of the main working area will be able to be divided with a sliding wall partition to create a separate meeting room. When opened up it will provide a presentation end allowing data projection etc. There will be a kitchen, toilet areas including disabled and baby change and good storage rooms. Large doors and glazing open directly on to the deck allowing free low from inside to outside.

Above: Photo of a similar style of building constructed by our contractor Cabinco

We are very excited about the build and are look forward to using it with schools from February 2013. We will show progress on this Blog and provide further information over the coming weeks.

DFSC 40th Anniversary Celebrations 2

On 20th September the Bristol Evening Post Newspaper did a nice double page spread with the headline - "Still great in the great outdoors". It featured colour photos of pupils from Ashton Gate Primary School and detailed some of the activities they undertook.

On 29th September Simon Partridge, teacher at Ashton Gate and pupil Luke were guests in the studio of BBC Radio Bristol. Ian Healey, Centre Manager of DFSC joined them on the phone and they were interviewed live by the radio presenter Ali Vowles. Ian talked about how later in the day we were celebrating our 40th Anniversary.

Then we had the big celebration itself:

We had a nice big cake with edible photo icing!

A great buffet prepared by our fantastic cooks Jane and Karen

The Lord Mayor of Bristol attended and cut the cake.

Guests toasted the Dean Field Studies Centre with Champagne.

Ian Healey, Centre Manager (2005 to present) on the left and Dick Butling , Warden/Manager 1978-1990(?) on right.

Ian with Line Manager Jan Pritchard and the Lord Mayor

 

The Lord Mayor then went down the Zip Wire in full robes!

Lots of other guests young and old also had a go

 

Guests were given a complimentary Anniversary Mug as a souvenir of the day. Afterall if it's good enough for the Queen....

 

It was an enjoyable day in which we celebrated the last 40 years and also looked forward to the next 40.

Dean Field Studies Centre 40th Anniversary Celebrations 1

 On 13th September 1972 the Dean Field Studies Centre was formally opened by Councillor C Draper, Chairman of the Bristol Education Committee. See the Log Book entry below:

Below are some archive photos from earlier times at the Centre

Students with caving equipment in 1978. The photo was developed and printed in the Centre's darkroom.

Student at Cannop Brook in 1979.

Students undertaking River Study 1979

Forest Walk 1979

Somervale School field sketching from roof of Land Rover Nov 82

Some things at the Centre haven't changed in forty years! We still go caving, do stream studies and forest walks. OK perhaps we don't do field sketching from the roofs of LandRovers anymore! These students are likely to be nearly 50 year olds now. Since the Centre opened 40 years ago we estimate that over 100,000 young people have been here. We wonder if some will have children or even grand children that have been to the Centre. Last week when we surveyed a group of 38 students from Elm Park Primary, 8 had a Mum or dad that had come to DFSC as a student.

If you came as a student and are now a grandparent with grandchildren who have been / are coming, we'd love to hear from you!

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.

Bushcraft

Last week Dom and Ian went on  a 3-Day Bushcraft Course for Instructors. One of their first tasks was to build a 'debris'shelter to sleep in. It rained quite a bit and the shelters stayed dry!

The next task was to create fire by friction bow drill

 "I have created fire!"

Fresh water was available on the course but they also had a go at digging an 'Indian well' and then filtering the water through a pair of jeans.

"Better boil up that water just in case!"

Dom and Ian learnt a lot of Bushcraft skills on the course that they are now inspired and enthusiastic to share those skills with groups that visit the Centre. Bushcraft is a great activity to engage young people in the oudoors. It has it's own unique pace that provides absorbtion, concentration and committment. It is an excellent way to learn more about the natural environment and interact with it. DFSC is committed to developing bushcraft sessions into our outdoor learning activity programmes and plans to run them initially at cost only to get schools and other organisations inspired. Contact us if you're interested in giving it a go.