Latest News Tue, Mar 22, 2016 5:11 PM
Climate Week, Britain’s biggest climate change championing event, has announced that the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust’s (GWCT's) ground-breaking farm building conversion, with a minimal carbon footprint, is a finalist in the 2013 Climate Week Awards.
In so doing, Climate Week has recognised that farming has a huge role to play in helping to combat climate change.
This revolutionary building, which was originally a redundant brick built cattle shed, is owned by the GWCT's Allerton Project farm at Loddington in Leicestershire. This leading UK wildlife research charity has already scooped a prestigious award for this sustainable farm building. Nomination for the new Climate Week Award further recognises the environmental credentials of this newly converted visitor centre.
Dr Alastair Leake, Director of Policy with the GWCT said, “In keeping with our own ecological approach to land management, we sought to design a new visitor centre which was constructed using ‘green’ materials whilst still offering state of the art technology. It is a triumph for conservation and the environment.”
The GWCT’s visitor centre, which hosts training courses for policy makers, farmers and conservationists, is constructed using many materials sourced from the farm’s own fields. These include straw bales, sheep fleece insulation and even recycled farm waste materials, normally ending up in landfill, has been cleverly processed and used in the parking area. It is significant that by using recycled and renewable materials the running costs and environmental impact are virtually zero.
Dr Leake says ,”At a time when growing emphasis is being placed on the need for farming to reduce its emissions, we believe that our new visitor centre offers a blueprint that other farmers can follow when converting their own farm buildings. This is not just good news for the climate; it also shows that where governments might fail, farmers can lead the way when it comes to reducing their impact on the environment. ”
How did we do it? Dr Leake explains, “Climate change is something we all have to face and we all need to re-think the way we operate. As farmers, we have access to a wealth of products that have minimal environmental impact and we can all do more to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by recycling or by the better utilisation of farmed by-products. For example using sheep fleece insulation means that we have a low carbon insulation material as well as providing another valuable outlet for our sheep’s wool.
“We even have four years of free heat by utilising the thinning’s from our woodland, which are then chipped and used to fuel our biomass boiler.”
The zero running costs and the special design features of this award-winning conversion have already generated interest from a global audience. As a result, the GWCT has published a blueprint for sustainable farm buildings. This free guide contains invaluable information on the products and systems used in the development of the building.
Some of the key features of the visitor centre include:
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