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| Brockholes visitor centre shortlist Lancashire Wildlife Trust has announced the shortlist in its competition to design its new multi-million pound visitor centre for the prestigious Brockholes Wetland and Woodland Nature Reserve near Preston. 61 architects from all over Europe submitted designs for the centre, which will include a café, shop, gallery, education and meeting rooms. The emphasis was on conceiving a practical, affordable and sustainable design, which would symbolise the aspirations of the Wildlife Trust for the reserve. The five shortlisted architects, in alphabetical order, are Adam Khan Architects, Arca, Architecture 2B, AY Architects, McDowell + Benedetti. They go forward to a final judging on 1 November. The judging panel includes Wayne Hemingway, founder of fashion house Red or Dead and key player in the drive to regenerate Pennine Lancashire. Brockholes is a 106 hectare former quarry site that sits in a key strategic location aside junction 31 of the M6 motorway. It is the latest site to be purchased through Newlands – a £59 million, NWDA-funded Forestry Commission-managed regeneration scheme that is transforming over 900 hectares of the north west brownfield land into community woodland and green space. Ian Selby, Brockholes Project Manager said: "I was pleased to see so many imaginative and truly inspirational ideas. The judging was difficult, but I feel we have selected the designs that stuck closely to the brief and gave us a variety of benefits to choose from". Keith Jones, Regional Director of the Forestry Commission said: "We are extremely supportive of the Brockholes design competition, as its a great opportunity to demonstrate Newlands' commitment to quality site design as well as cutting edge brownfield remediation. The announcement of this shortlist is an encouraging step forward in this process, and we are pleased to see all the design concepts embrace the true essence of the Brockholes project, delivering economic and social benefit as well as exciting and innovative design. We look forward to working with the successful applicant in the future." The winner will be announced in early November and it is hoped that the building work will commence in summer 2008. write your comments about the article :: © 2007 Construction News :: home page |