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Between January
2006 and Easter 2007 the Green Wood Centre
(GWC) are investing a total of £250 000 on the
development of their site in Coalbrookdale, part
of the Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site.
The site will become an interpretation centre
for woodland, coppicing, sustainable building
and other sustainable technologies. The project
includes an extension to the ‘state of the art’
woodland college that will create an organic
and whole food café and a retail outlet
for coppice and related products. Other project
elements include interpretation explaining
the many sustainable features of the site,
including
the Woodland College itself.
Project funding will be drawn from the following
sources Defra Rural Enterprise Scheme; £156,510,
Sita Environmental Trust, 25,000 and Onyx Environmental
Trust, £80,000. This funding will be supplemented
by considerable work around the site by the range
of volunteers and training placements that attend
the GWC site on a regular basis.
The development project is a great opportunity
to gain real ground in achieving the aims of
both the GWC and its ‘parent’ body Small Woods
Association (SWA). This project will provide
an invaluable tool for the achievement of these
aims by establishing the GWC as a mainstream
visitor centre within one of the most heavily
visited tourist destinations in the UK. This
public interface will fulfil a long held ambition
of the ‘GWT’ to get the sustainability message
across to those members of the public who flood
the Ironbridge Gorge throughout the summer. The
creation of a café/ shop is an essential
lever to facilitate this educational/ interpretive/
awareness raising role, whilst also providing
a valuable and sustainable income stream for
the organisation.
This innovative project will turn the GWC into
a ‘showcase eco-centre promoting sustainable
living through a wood-based economy’. By moving
out to a broader audience it will make GWC ‘the national centre of excellence’ in its field.
This is something that will provide a secure
and sustainable future for the centre and major
boost to this industry sector as a whole.
Other project elements include an extended car
park, footpath access to a demonstration area
of coppice woodland and sculpture trail. A central
wood burning boiler has already been installed
to provide heating and hot water across the site,
using waste wood from the site and low grade
produce from local coppices.
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