Work has begun on Adam Khan Architects’ RIBA competition-winning design for the Brockholes Wetland and Woodland Nature Reserve in Lancashire
The £8.8 million, carbon-neutral scheme for the 67ha site at Brockholes, near Preston, features a floating visitors’ centre and aims to showcase the ‘region’s unique and plentiful array of wildlife’.
London-based Khan, formerly of Caruso St John, beat finalists McDowell + Benedetti and AY Architects to land the project on the site of a former quarry back in February 2008.
Funded by the Lancashire Wildlife Trust, the North West Regional Development Agency (NWDA) and the Forestry Commission, the scheme could attract up to 250,000 visitors each year and the project co-ordinators hope it will achieve an ‘outstanding’ rating in its Breeam assessment.
Describing the scheme, Khan said: ‘We based our design on visitor experience and some very practical aspects – such as flooding. It’s nice that many of the design moves turn out to be extremely practical and poetic at the same time.’
Richard Tracey, head of environmental quality at the NWDA, described it as ‘a prime example of how the natural environment can be harnessed to create economic activity.’
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