What do yoghurt pots, old Wellington boots and mobile phones have in common? They were all recycled and used to make the reception desk of this super-green new visitor centre. Old tyres and inner tubes make up the roof cover and what's more, the whole building can be entirely recycled at the end of its life.
The forest next door is proving handy – it supplies wood chips to power the boiler and is also where the wood used to clad the building came from. A micro wind turbine and an array of photovoltaic panels supply the electricity. Even the toilets are flushed with rainwater gathered on the roof and stored in a tank, reducing the amount taken from the village well.
This centre has been built as part of a regeneration of facilities to develop the forest as a regional centre of excellence for sustainable economic activity. It will cater for the needs of the 250,000 people who visit Yorkshire's largest forest every year.
It was designed to minimize the impact and the building sits very lightly in the valley. The focus on sustainability is clear in the landscaping and construction. The building is clad in larch grown and milled in the forest, which not only reduced the building's embodied energy but also supported local businesses. The main timber structure was semi-prefabricated which reduced time on site, site traffic and disruption.
The building last month won the prime minister's Better Public Building award for 2007. The government praised the building for its "uncompromising commitment to sustainability" and as “an educational example for all visitors.”
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