ecobuilding
A disused colliery spoil tip in north
Nottinghamshire is being transformed into a country park as part of an ecological community initiative.
Ecological community centre
THE PROJECT at Newstead Village includes the building of an eco ‘earthship’ visitor centre, with the main structure made out of hundreds of old vehicle tyres. The tyre wall style construction will be one of the largest of its kind in the world when complete. Designed by architects Waugh-Thistleton,
the eco-build visitor centre will also have an earth roof to reduce water run-off and special glazing, thermal insulation, as well as other environmentally sustainable technological features that will make the centre ultra-energy efficient. On completion the earthship will provide power back to the national grid. The wall will take 1,500 reclaimed tyres,
physically pounded with the blackened earth from the surrounding old coal pits, to build the retaining wall. When filled with earth the tyres have thermal properties that enable them to act as a heat store. Normally tyre fitters have to pay to dispose of tyres to landfill, so the 1,500 tyres have been delivered to site at no cost to the project. Members of the local community are
effectively providing the labour and volunteers have been filling tyres with earth and then building under the on-site supervision of principal contractors Merriman, which has been responsible for the wider regeneration of the former Annesley Colliery site for
three years, remediating the land, addressing contamination and stability issues and regenerating the environment around a series of lagoons now rich with birdlife. OPUS International has been brought in to ensure all the relevant stress/energy calculations are met. Due to complete this summer, the centre
will have a variety of community uses including educational purposes to show how regeneration can be achieved using renewable materials. The earthship overlooks a fishing lake created by Merriman, which will also be managed by the local community. Revenues from the fishing lake will be used to help maintain the visitor centre. Newstead Enterprise, a consortium of
three local charities, is overseeing the regeneration project. It secured £433,140 of lottery funding for the project from the Big Lottery Fund. Newstead Village also won a place on the Big Lottery Fund and BBC’s Village SOS programme last year. Village SOS is an initiative designed to inspire a UK rural revival and it is funding rural villages to develop new business ventures that will breathe new life into their areas, create new jobs and improve the quality of life for local people. The BBC is filming to produce a documentary in June. This project will be one of six being featured from around the UK. The scheme has also been supported with Local Improvement Scheme funding from Nottinghamshire County Council.
The main structure of the centre will be made of 1,500 reclaimed tyres
www.merrimans.com www.waughthistleton.com
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