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Our plans for a new state of the art visitor experience and sustainable skills hub at CAT are moving into the next phase of development.
New and upgraded facilities featured in the plans include teaching spaces, exhibition spaces, additional on-site accommodation, an expanded café, retail spaces, nature trails and walkways, and an enhanced visitor experience.
We are now appointing a masterplanning team, to include an architect, services engineer, civil and structural engineer, ecological consultant, project manager and civil engineering consultant to take the project into structural design phase — with plans to retain Haworth Tompkins as the lead masterplanning architect.
It comes as UN scientists deliver a ‘final warning’ on the need for urgent action to tackle the climate emergency — with our plans designed to increase the Centre’s environmental training and education capacity to help meet this demand.
The world-class facilities will help more people and institutions across the UK and beyond to play their part in tackling the climate crisis — through the development of our train-the-trainer programmes, professional skills courses and bespoke study visits for schools, colleges and universities.
The facilities will also support the expansion of our already-successful postgraduate programmes, helping bridge the green skills gap — cited as one of the main barriers to tackling climate change at the scale and speed required.
Meanwhile, the new visitor experience will provide individuals with the motivation, knowledge, and support to create change at home, work and within wider communities.
As well as attracting many more learners and visitors to the Centre, the plans are expected to see the creation of an additional 48 jobs, benefiting the local economy for many years to come. Once the new masterplanning team is in place, plans will continue to be developed as funding allows.
Eileen Kinsman, Co-CEO at CAT, said: “The new plans — created with support from leading regenerative architecture firm, Haworth Tompkins — are the product of extensive engagement with the local community and CAT’s visitors, students, members and supporters.
“Significant progress has already been achieved, but this next phase — of structural and service design and planning, supported by further consultation — will be where our plans are firmed up and formalised.
“We are confident that the project will encourage more people than ever before to join us in exploring climate solutions. And, as we celebrate our 50th anniversary, what better time to be taking steps to inspiring positive change for a further 50 years?”
The ambitious project — included amongst the initial projects being considered for the Mid Wales Growth Deal portfolio — is taking a phased approach to minimise disruption and allow the Centre to remain open to students and visitors throughout its transformation. We also hope that taking a phased approach will create more opportunities for local specialists in sustainable build and design to bid for the work.
Supported by funding from the UK Community Renewal Fund, our masterplan and business case aims to secure the earmarked funding from the Growth Deal, while attracting funding from charitable trusts, foundations and other supporters — helping to bring the plans to reality.
Thank you for your support
We’d like to thank all our supporters who have fed into and helped fund the initial phases of this work. Now, we need your support to hire specialist ecologists to carry out detailed surveys of the many species and habitats at CAT — whilst continuing to fund our ongoing work, sharing sustainable skills.
These surveys will inform plans to improve and update our eco centre in a genuinely regenerative way, accommodating and enhancing the ecological diversity that makes our home in Mid Wales so rich — as well as providing a wonderful experience for many more visitors and learners.
If we hit our fundraising targets, we are confident we’ll be able to complete these surveys this summer, bringing our plans one step closer to fruition.
To make a donation, please visit: https://cat.org.uk/join-donate/
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