Bid for Earth Centre

The Life Park Project Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council

Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council - The Life Park Project 3

Tender Submission

Introduction 1

1 The offer 3

2 Summary 5

3 Vision 7

4 Strategic fit 11

5 People 15

6 Business Plan 27

7 Operation 31

8 Impact 37

9 Contacts 41

Appendices

A WSS Agreement

B Curricula Vitae

C 4th Pillar

D Birmingham and Aston Universities

E MiUni – Training Structure

F Biofuels

G Architects Sketch Drawings

H Quantity Surveyor’s Report

I Mechanical and Electrical Report

Contents

Tend

er Sub

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Tender SubmissionThe Life Park ProjectDoncaster Metropolitan Borough Council


Introduction

We are delighted to submit our proposal for the purchase of the Earth Centre. A proposal to create a national science, technology and engineering park promoting sustainability through enterprise, training and education.

Our team has been working on the idea since November 2008. At first it was reaching an understanding of what had gone wrong with the Earth Centre. We walked the site, read the old Earth Centre accounts, studied the mining history of the area, were impressed by the buildings, the lack of vandalism, the unique ecology caused by the limestone spine.

That led to a dialogue with local people that revealed a distrust of outsiders with big plans and a tendency to disappear – but still a hope that the community could be part of recreating the Earth Centre.

From that point we have built our proposal on three guiding principles:

- Involve local people in the development and make sure they benefit

- Deliver environmental technologies and training in a way that makes a major impact on businesses in South Yorkshire and nationally

- Create a financial success story

The last year has been spent assembling the team and plan that can deliver that ambition; bringing the community together in an organised form, attracting a visitor site developer with a national reputation (Stephen Feber) and partnering with one of the world’s foremost sustainability business consultants, Arup.

We have learnt the lessons of the past. If Doncaster Council gives us the opportunity, we will create the UK’s principal centre for delivering our low energy future and would welcome a chance to talk more about our proposals.

For further information please contact:

Chris HillT. +44 (0) 113 388 00 88M. +44 (0) 7968 968862E. [email protected]

Chris Hill

Director of Harehills CIC/‘Shine’ and Camberwell and Developer of workspaces for social benefit

Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council - The Life Park Project2

Earth Centre Galleries and Solar CanopyThe Conference Building at the Earth Centre


1 The offer

Life Park Ltd is offering to pay £373,000, before fees, to Doncaster Council within six months of written confirmation of Life Park being the preferred bidder.1

Within six months a detailed business plan will be developed and capital raised to implement the ideas detailed below.

1 Price is based on average agricultural land prices for South Yorkshire - £4,250 per acre (Farmers Weekly March 2010),

producing a total of £212,500 + an allowance for the two productive buildings – The Café Block and the Conference Hall – of £150,000. In making the offer we note the GVA Grimley valuation report of Aug 2004:

Area A (core site excluding tower area and compounds)

Area 33.3ha/82.3a

Planet Earth @ 5582m2

Cafe 444m2

Sub-station 51m2

Conference C 606m2

Waterworks 564m2 (Living Machine)

Natureworks 168m2 (Cold Classroom)

Total 7415m2 Annual rent £2500

Factors Leasehold + Restrictive user clause + Access

Valuation Nominal value even if access is available

In the event of insufficient capital being raised, our partner Wind and Solar Systems (www.wss-gb.co.uk) will purchase the site for the same amount at the end of that period.

For the WSS Agreement, please refer to Appendix A.


Entrance over Kilner Bridge and the side of the Welcome Hall


2 Summary

With the history of the Earth Centre, it would be surprising if there wasn’t a wary response to the idea of opening, on the same site, a centre dedicated to developing the research, production, training and enterprise needed to create a low energy economy. Yet the economic and political demand for such a centre is stronger than it was in 1995 and our proposition very different.

Life Park will achieve the combination of holding the site in trust for the community, returning benefits in the form of leisure activities, training and jobs, while partners undertake commercially driven activity related to energy reduction.

Financial success will be determined by the number of training courses on the site, conferences, seminars and expos, sponsored research and workspace rent from businesses. It will not be dependent on casual visitors. All these aspects will be carefully planned in the six month option period.

Sustainability is not just ‘green stuff’. Creating a place that is permanent, but open to change, where people can meet and enjoy themselves, appreciate the landscape, learn skills and be active is just as important. Life Park will be part owned by the community and welcoming of the projects it wants to develop.

Life Park will be England’s only sustainability park based on research, training and enterprise. Its economic impact in terms of jobs, training places and business growth will eclipse any consideration of the offer price over a ten-year period and will raise the profile and image of Doncaster. A national network of shareholders, build over the first six months will drive interest and business to the site.

To achieve these combined objectives we have assembled a team that contains: These organisations bring not only their skills, but also

their business connections that will ensure Life Park’s financial success.

Camberwell: A company experienced in developing assets for social benefit.

Arup: A international design and engineering consultancy with a reputation for implementing sustainability measures into the commercial world.

Stephen Feber: A development consultant with a proven track record of producing large scale and financially successful visitor attractions.

MiUni: A deliverer of university accreditedsustainability training.

MiUni

A community enterprise formed in support of the Life Park project.

4th Pillar

Partnership for Renewables: A joint venture partnership between the Carbon Trust and HSBC to deliver renewable energy projects.


3 Vision

Life ParkExtracting the benefits of low carbon living

Life Park will be a People’s Park - owned and operated by the community. It is the opportunity for communities to understand and engage with the local and global benefits of low carbon lifestyle. It will be a place where local people learn to appreciate the value of truly sustainable living - where long-term financial security, supportive, healthy informed communities and low environmental impact lifestyles combine. It will be a place where the green dividend is real with new jobs and investment in renewable energy technologies and infrastructure, benefiting both existing residents and encouraging communities to grow.

The Earth Centre concept was ahead of its time which was part of its undoing. Community will, technological innovation and government legislation are now in place, making us ready to create our green economy and a low carbon future. The economic recession and the political environment are now releasing the opportunity for communities to get involved partly through necessity for obtaining jobs and reducing energy costs and partly through desire to do what is best for their future. The people of Doncaster have been in tough situations before but they are now better equipped to make the most of new economic opportunities.

Now is the right time for the Life Park. With government initiatives on Feed-in Tariffs, imminent heat incentives and an ongoing focus on empowering local communities, the building blocks for communities to deliver renewable energy are in place. The Dearne Valley Eco Vision has built momentum and belief that local towns can shape their destiny has developed. There is a desire to grow your own locally and drive the growth of low carbon food, make choices on low carbon transport trips by public transport and electric vehicles; and

manage waste streams as a resource. Now is the time for these towns and villages to seize the opportunity and deliver new jobs, investment and a brighter, more sustainable future.

The Life Park will be an economic asset first, a local leisure and educational resource second and a tourism attraction third. From the outset, the Life Park will be driven by business and economic development needs and it will derive income from renewable energy, business space and conferencing. The local community will want to engage with leisure and educational activities on the site and all the facilities will be made available to achieve this. The site will deliver an environment that engages people from all ages and background in the low carbon agenda and empowers and inspires individuals and communities to play their role. We all face great challenges in the years and decades ahead: social, environmental and economic. We need vision, leadership, inspiration and community empowerment to respond to those challenges. Life Park will be a driver for change in the local area and the region. Over time we have no doubt that it will develop and become a significant attraction for the wider population.

The Life Park will deliver the ideals of the Earth Centre and more but from a sound economic footing where money is made from low carbon living. This will be done from an economically stable position of no debt and community investment where returns are shared equitably. The life park will become the model for genuine low carbon living a concept that we all must embrace for our children’s future.


Horticulture, fishing and river

activities

Learning from working

installations – anaerobic digester,

solar farm, small turbines, biomass plant

Research into alternative energy

production and bio fuels

Start-up workspace for environmental

businesses

Architectural demonstration

projects

International Expos and

conferences

Specialist University led intelligence

sharingUniversity accredited

training

A monthly music and cultural events

programme

Community run Welcome Hall and

volunteer led visitor facilities and projects

Natural parkland managed by

Yorkshire Wildlife Trust

Skills training in green

technologies

Life Park

What the Life Park Project will offer

3 Vision continued.


3 Vision continued.

Arup’s Beddington Zero Carbon Housing Development in Sutton

Half hourly rail link to Doncaster and Sheffield

The Trans Pennine Trail passes through the site

Easy public transport access to major shopping centres

How the project will be supplemented

The partnership will undertake the development of eco housing south of the river (not part of the sale package) adjacent to a newly installed solar farm (under application).

Housing transactions are at a forty year low and doubt has been thrown on the ‘green premium’ value of low energy homes. However, it remains the case that those that focus not only on technology, but our whole lifestyle needs, still achieve commercial returns in this difficult environment. That means attention to green space, transport links, shops and leisure facilities, temporary workspaces and human networks.

The reopening of the Earth Centre will unlock that potential. Riverside eco-housing next to the train station with shared spaces within it and access to the facilities of the Park will hold the value to make the development commercially viable. Evidence of this approach is shown in the Greenhouse development in Leeds delivered by one of our partners CITU (www.greenhouseleeds.co.uk), who put the development in one of the poorest areas of Leeds on the market at the low point of early 2010. Only 25 of the 170 units are still available. They are deeply green, but the appeal was as much in the courtyard, coffee bar, gym, workspace, free bikes, IT network and allotments as the low carbon.

We will recreate this environment if successful in purchasing the council owned site (combined with the HSBC plot) and will try to achieve the added advantage of all the power being supplied by the solar farm that should be established to the west of the site.

There is increasing evidence from many of our sustainable housing developments that low carbon living is attracting a premium in terms of house value. We can see that similar housing developments adjacent to the Life Park will be highly desirable and command an increased value. Critically, house owners become more aware of their carbon footprint and commit themselves to low carbon living on different fronts.


© K

ings

pan

Earth Centre’s solar canopy that will quickly be turned back on


4 Strategic fit

The Life Park has a strong strategic fit with the Sheffield City Region’s economic and spatial development plans. The “Roles of Places” work undertaken by Arup for the Sheffield City region, identifies the Dearne Valley as a priority area for regeneration and change in the city region. This policy priority is reflected in the City region Development Plan, and also in the City region’s successful Local Enterprise Partnership proposal (which Arup helped produce). An important priority for the area is to improve its image and attractiveness as a place to live and in which to invest.

The Life Park will greatly enhance the area’s cultural product and economic competitiveness. The work Arup undertook for the City Region on transport and worklessness identified particular challenges in terms of creating jobs and connecting people to jobs in the Dearne towns. The Life Park will assist in terms of job creation, and also in terms of enhancing linkages between local communities in the area.

The Life Park has a very neat strategic fit with a number of key planning documents for the surrounding area. The key documents are:

- The Sheffield City Region Development Programme (2010)

- Local Enterprise Partnership Proposal for the Sheffield City Region

- The Dearne Valley Eco Vision (2009)

The Sheffield City Region Development Programme report establishes the need to develop low carbon infrastructure (insulation, transport etc), move closer to energy self-sufficiency (local production), lower energy use (for manufacturing cost reasons as well as reduced carbon emissions) and to increase the skill levels of the workforce.


The Life Park addresses a number of issues and lies at the heart of one of the seven key development sites identified in the Sheffield City Region Development Programme.

Sheffi eld

BARNSLEY

SHEFFIELD

CHESTERFIELDBOLSOVER

BASSETLAW

DONCASTER

ROTHERHAM

DERBYSHIRE DALES

DERBYSHIRE DALES

Barnsley

Stockbridge

Matlock

Clay Cross

Shirebrook

WorksopRetford

Harworth

Chesterfi eld

Rotherham

Dinnington

Doncaster

Sheffi eld City Region DaSTSConnectivity Study - Sheffi eld City Region Overview

The Life Park Site

Sheffield City Region Map

4 Strategic fit continued.


The Sheffield City Region Development Programme (2010) gives the first of its overarching priorities as to...

“Support the output and employment growth in key sectors across the City Region - specifically Advanced Manufacturing and Materials and related Low Carbon/Energy industries.”

4 Strategic fit continued.

The Dearne Valley Eco Vision (2009) had this to say about the Earth Centre...

“The Earth Centre, with its exemplar buildings, could provide the basis for a new Schumacher centre...creating a meeting point for global and local ideas, experience and solutions. In order to do this it would work at a local level with the Dearne Valley Education Partnership and the College, as well as making links with Yorkshire Universities. It would also develop links with European centres of expertise aligned with the eco-vision.”

We have already started to bring together the partners to implement this aspirational vision for the area.


Wetlands at the Earth Centre; ideal for nature observation


5 People

Introduction

We have assembled a team capable of delivering a high profile, economically successful, sustainability park that over a ten year period will have a major impact on Doncaster.

The impact will be measured not only in jobs, business and leisure facilities, but in a creating a profile for the city that puts it at the head of environmental research and demonstration.

For detailed career profiles of the key players in the project, please refer to Appendix B, Curricula Vitae.

The Board

Initial Board members of Life Park will be:

Chris HillDirector of Harehills CIC/‘Shine’ and Camberwell and Developer of workspaces for social benefit

Ian Pearson 4th Pillar representative, Magistrate and trustee of the largest community transport charity in the country

Jo SmithHead of Conservation, Yorkshire Wildlife Trust

Mike MarchantRapid Technology Transfer Group/ MiUni and Developer of university accredited sustainability training

On raising the initial £800,000 (led by Chris Hill and David Vincent of Ethical Investments, recent raiser of £1.6m for a sustainable forestry project – www.ethicalinvestments.co.uk), Life Park will appoint Arup (a global firm of designers, planners, engineers and technical consultants, owned by its 7,000 employees, with offices in Sheffield and Leeds – www.arup.com) and Stephen Feber (developer of ten visitor attractions and sites in Yorkshire, Lancashire, Cheshire and Derbyshire – www.stepenfeber.com) to work on developing the business plan for the commercial elements of the site and the overall vision.

For CVs and full details of experience please refer to Appendix B, Curricula Vitae.


Ownership structure

Life Park will be a national science, technology and engineering park promoting intelligent sustainability through enterprise, training and education.

Life Park Ltd is an Industrial and Provident Society for the Benefit of the Community (registration in process), owned by its shareholders on a one-member one-vote basis. The company will hold the land in trust for the community in perpetuity.

5 People continued.

Ownership structure diagram

The park as a whole will be a managed nature reserve, busy with training, community activity and events.

The commercial areas will be operated on a long lease from Life Park Ltd by a share limited company owned and driven by Camberwell/Feber/Arup and Life Park itself.

Leases land to training organisers/

WSS and others

Takes charges for leisure activities on the river etc

Rents space to events organisers, stalls holders etc

Life Park grants a 999 year lease on c.10 acres of land and buildings to a share limited company owned and run by Arup/Camberwell/Life Park/investors.

Share limited company purchases land south of the river to develop for housing.

Life Park Industrial and Provident Society

Owns whole site, discusses purchase of remaining Earth Centre land. Board elected by shareholders

on a one-member one-vote system


5 People continued.

Key people

Also involved in building the bid have been:

Bev Morton Connections CIC, delivering skills training through the services delivered on site

Chris CookCEO, Nordic Enterprise Trust, attracting investors

Scott NewhouseOperations Director WSS, lead tenant and financial contributor to social projects

Imelda Havers Blue Fish Regeneration, assisting 4th Pillar in establishing a community enterprise

Colin OliverCEO Futuresound Music, creating an events programme to run continually from 2012

Daniel WalkerDirector Performing Earth, establishing a theatre company based on the site with an international programme that can be used to generate the reputation of the Life Park

Malcolm LynchWrigleys Solicitors, a national authority on social finance

Other parties involved are the community groups and individuals of Conisbrough and Denaby that have participated in 4th Pillar.

For further information on 4th Pillar, please refer to Appendix C.


5 People continued.

Organisations

Arup

Arup are a global design and engineering consultancy with a reputation for leading edge thinking on sustainability. With offices in Sheffield, Leeds and York we are very much engaged with the economy of Yorkshire. Regeneration of the coalfields has been part of our business and Arup were instrumental in the design of the lake at Wath Manvers (right) that has successfully led the approach for further environmental enhancements in the Dearne Valley. We supported the Earth Centre during its development and we are very familiar with its reclamation, buildings and infrastructure.

Through our frameworks with SYPTE and relationships with Doncaster, Barnsley and Rotherham council we have delivered major infrastructure and regeneration projects throughout the towns of the area. We recently supported the Sheffield City Region with writing their bid and strategy for the newly formed Local Economic Partnership. We have developed a number of economic masterplans and business cases for different projects not least the 2012 Olympic Games.

Arup have all the abilities to prepare and deliver a very successful business plan for the Life Park. We are, however, more than conventional consultants because where we see a community project that needs our help we will invest our time, skills and resources into the project in helping them achieve their aims. Through our business connections to client organisations such as Partnership for Renewables, Nordic Enterprise Trust and HSBC we believe that we can bring financial investment and surrounding land assets together to create a compelling low carbon living project.

We believe that the Life Park can achieve its aims, which is why Arup is committed to supporting the project.

Arup relevant experience:

Wath Manvers Reclamation, RotherhamThe development of the lake at Wath Manvers has set the tone for the wider Dearne Valley Eco Vision, establishing quality green infrastructure.

California Academy of Sciences, CaliforniaThe learning programme for low carbon living has been developed jointly with Arup and California Academy of Sciences and we would look to bring shared experiences to the Life Park.

The Eden Project, CornwallThe success of the Eden Project is in part down to the strong leadership and clear business plan, and we would look to bring our knowledge and understanding of the project to the Life Park.

Beddington Zero, SuttonArup worked closely with the developers to establish a very high level of sustainability. This was also connected to a programme of low carbon living which has been monitored since the development’s completion in 2001.

Hanham Hall, BristolHanham Hall is an exemplar sustainable housing development, which is driven by a philosophy of low carbon living and accommodates local food production, low carbon transport systems and local energy generation.


Wath Manvers Lake, Rotherham - High quality green infrastructure


California Academy of Sciences, California - A learning programme for low carbon living


The Eden Project, Cornwall - Leadership, knowledge and understanding


Beddington Zero Carbon Housing Development, Sutton - Early sustainable housing development


Hanham Hall Eco Housing Development, Bristol - An emphasis on local food production


5 People continued.

Stephen Feber

Over the course of our work we have worked alongside talented people like Stephen Feber. Stephen is a specialist in business planning for tourism, visitor attraction and sustainable living projects. He has a successful track record of delivery with the development of Eureka in Halifax, Magna in Rotherham and Heartlands in Cornwall.

Stephen’s understanding of life in former coal mining communities in Wakefield will be invaluable in terms of developing the innovation and visitor attraction elements of the business plan.

Arup have worked with Stephen Feber on the Airedale Economic Masterplan which included the development and marketing of digital industries. Out of this plan the Advanced Digital Institute was established and has been tremendously successful in developing creative industries in the Shipley area.

We also worked with Stephen Feber on the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site Economic Masterplan. This explored the development of new business space in former mill buildings and the development of renewable energy sources, in particular hydropower.

Stephen Feber relevant experience:

Magna, RotherhamStephen Feber was the development director for the Magna project which is in a very similar location to the Life Park.

Eureka, HalifaxThis child-centred learning attraction was established and managed by Stephen Feber. It has been an enormous success in transforming engagement of children with science and engineering.

Heartlands, CornwallThis project has many similarities with the proposed Life Park in that it has high quality business space, renewable energy and adjacent low carbon living accommodation.


5 People continued.

Magna, Rotherham

Eureka, Halifax

Heartlands, Cornwall


Inside and outside the Conference Building


6 Business Plan

Learning the Lessons of the Earth Centre

Reasons for the failure of the multi million-funded Earth Centre project are many; several are undisputed:

- A lack of clarity as to what it was – a serious environmental demonstration project or a family leisure park

- Reliance on and overestimation of potential visitors

- Too much dependence on grants (that were usually for capital, not revenue) and too little control on costs.

By contrast the Life Park will:

- target business users, rather than be dependent on visitors. Income will be generated by space lettings, land licences and events, with any visitor income a bonus

- have a clear focus on enterprise, research and training within a community driven parkland setting

- have a business model that is not grant dependent (though we will look for grants as investment capital) and will only expand its cost base as income allows.

The development process

On being given a six month option, Life Park will raise:

- £25k loan funding from Key Fund within 4 weeks, which will allow us to begin the business planning

- £800k from a Community Share issue to buy the land and complete the business plan and capital-raising scheme. That money will come in between month 1 and month 6.

Business Plan development will be undertaken by Arup, Camberwell and Stephen Feber (please referto Appendix B - CVs) and will include:

- Site survey, structures, systems

- Appraisals/valuations

- Business planning on the basis of a fully developed model used at Heartlands, Cornwall (www.heartlandscornwall.com)

- Appraisal of the renewable/sustainability/ training/development market

- Visioning/branding of the project - comparator and competitor analysis

- Legal and operational structures – especially for the income generating elements – on site energy production, education and training, events and demonstrations, enterprise workspace and the development of eco housing to the south of the site

- Cementing the relationship of the commercial elements of the site to Life Park Ltd and the local community.


Rental income Dividend

6 Business Plan continued.

MiUniHE learning and multi-level skills training from

‘The Foundry’

Yorkshire Wildlife TrustMaintenance and

projects

Trading CompanyEnterprise,

conferencing, demonstration

projects

4th PillarCommunity

organised support company

Hire income

Visitor income and land lease

Financial support from solar farm

Research centre for energy

and biofuels

Craganour and Oval Tenants and Residence Associations

Conisborough Forward

Doncaster West Development Trust

Entour

Tom Hill Boxing Club

St Peter’s, St Albans and All Saints Churches

Food Aware

Doncaster Federation of Tenants and Residents

Direct investment

Volunteer activity

Life ParkSite Owner

Events organisers

Ethical investors

Wind and Solar Systems

Sources of income at the Life Park


6 Business Plan continued.

Finance

On purchase of the Earth Centre, between £2m -£8m will be invested directly by the new commercial operating company (Camberwell/Feber/Arup) to bring the site into full operation and through associated investment on the site by partners (WSS in the solar farm and others into energy projects).

A bid for the housing land south of the river will also be submitted within the 6 month period with a plan to develop eco-housing.

Share issue

We are confident of raising the £800,000 from the share issue for the following reasons:

- The Ethical Investment Company and David Vincent come from recently having raised £1.6m for an ethical Bolivian forestry scheme, and have a well developed network of ethical investors after more than ten years in the field.

- We will be offering a likely return of 6% a year from year 4 on investment in Life Park and the Enterprise Investment Scheme will be worth a similar amount in tax allowances for the first three years.

- The environment lobby is well organized and contactable. As well as local investors, this will be a unique opportunity for individuals nationally to back such a large-scale sustainable research and demonstration project while earning a return.

Main investment

The investment that will take place after purchase of the main site will be a mix of loan, grant and equity (external and from partners).

The group is receiving professional advice from Chris Cook, 6 years Director of the International Petroleum Exchange and now of the Nordic Enterprise Trust.

Preliminary discussions have been held with:

- Bridges Ventures

- Big Issue Invest

- Partnership for Renewables

- Triodos

- Yorkshire Forward (ERDF)

All discussions have so far been positive.


Walkways thread through the site and will be brought back to standard


7 Operation

The project will have five strands of activity:

1) Training

2) Community

3) Research, enterprise and demonstration

4) Environment

5) Events

1) Training

Delivering university and company backed sustainability training from HE Level 4 and above as part of new Centres for Natural Energy and Fuels and for Resource Security. Initiative to be driven by Mike Marchant of Rapid Technology Transfer Group and MiUni.

Please refer to Appendix D - Birmingham and Aston Universities for examples of two training interventions planned for the site: Aston University - Sustainable Communities; and Birmingham University - Biodiversity Management. A structure for the whole training suite can also be found in Appendix E - MiUni Training Structure. Discussions about provision are underway with 15 Universities in all - five are already committed.

A copy of the 2007 bid for the Earth Centre from the Biofuels Training Board can also be found in Appendix F - Biofuels. This was to turn the Earth Centre into a “National and International centre of excellence not just in the Biofuel sector but for Renewable Energy as a whole”. We are working with the leaders of this bid to reinvigorate the partnership and bring biofuels research and training to the site.

Environmental basic skills training will be delivered by local training companies Connections CIC, Mulberry Tree and others. The initial agreement is to focus training on:

- Business administration

- Customer Services

- Catering

- Accounting and IT

- Horticulture

- Green technologies (particularly building related).

Training related to energy demonstration projects will also be delivered on the site, for example, solar panels, turbine, anaerobic digester, ground source and water etc.


7 Operation continued.

2) Community

The community felt damaged by the collapse of the Earth Centre. So much money had been spent locally, yet in the end they gained nothing. In the site’s rebirth as the Life Park, we will make sure that the community remains at the heart of the project (25% of the Board) and that it receives practical benefits from leisure facilities, training and jobs. We are also determined to make Life Park a financial success that will ensure those benefits are permanent.

As a result of over a year of discussions with individuals and groups the community fully back our bid. A support organization, the 4th Pillar, has been formed involving 13 local groups with its own constitution and objectives.

4th Pillar intends to run the Welcome Hall on a lease basis from Life Park as a volunteer and visitor centre bringing leisure, employment and training activity to the Park and making sure the facility serves the local community2. Horticultural projects and events are of particular interest to the group (please refer to Appendix C for information on 4th Pillar), with a miners’ garden to be established in time to commemorate the centenary of the Cadeby Main disaster in July 1912 when 88 men were killed.

4th Pillar will be able to access government and Trust funding not available to business and the public sector as well as receiving donations from commercial operations on the site such as WSS. Applications will begin as soon as we are granted preferred bidder status, with Big Lottery (Reaching Communities) and Esmee Fairbairn (Welcome Hall manager and volunteer organizer) particular targets.

Within commercial constraints, the intention is that most services on site (catering, security etc) will be delivered by social businesses committed to local training. A catering provider has already been identified.

2 An example of the type of activity comes from the EcoTech Centre in Norfolk that had 500 school student visitors to their turbine in 2009, paying £6 a head 4th Pillar will run the Welcome Hall as a volunteer and visitor centre



3) Research, enterprise and demonstration

During the six months of preferred bidder status, financed by the loan and share issue, Camberwell, Feber and Arup will business plan all options and work on attracting partners to the site related to low carbon energy production and use, research and demonstration projects.

Early cost estimates suggest that the conferencing, café block and glassed exhibition space can be brought into use quickly and at low cost.

Please refer to Appendix G - Architect’s Sketch Drawings; Appendix H - Quantity Surveyor estimates; and Appendix I - Mechanical and Electrical Report.

Use of the Galleries and surrounding areas will be considered in relation to business appraisal.

Three tenants (MiUni, Performing Earth and WSS) have been identified in early discussions. The numbers will be expanded over the six months with targeted approaches to companies and trainers in the sustainability field (e.g. those companies needing trained workers in the energy efficiency field that will expand as a result of the 2010 Energy Bill).3

Conferencing, events and meeting facilities will be promoted throughout the private, public and voluntary sectors, not exclusively to environmental organizations.

Training and catering can be delivered immediately from the Café Block.

3 Employment in the insulation industry anticipated to rise from27,000 to 100,000 by 2015 Gallery space to be opened up

The outside of the Cafe Block



4) Environment

Yorkshire Wildlife Trust will manage the whole site as natural parkland on the lines of Potteric Carr,4 with specialist use areas (training, performance, horticulture etc) being leased by groups from Life Park Ltd.

We are also working with the Don Gorge Community Group that gathers volunteers to manage the river from Conisbrough east to the A1. They have expressed an interest in co-managing the Welcome Hall and inclusion of the Earth Centre site will create an environmentally managed waterway all the way from Sprotbrough to Mexbrough and Denaby Ings.

5) Events

Events will take many forms. There will be learning based events perhaps around a particular technology and temporary exhibition as well as locally organised shows, markets and celebrations.

In addition, Futuresound Music are keen to develop a sympathetic monthly programme around music and the arts. They propose to organise twelve events a year from literary and arts based events for smaller audiences to larger-scale music events.

Futuresound Music hope to put on events that celebrate food and drink, as well as music and the arts and their programme will offer welcome income generating opportunities for Life Park.

In addition, the Performing Earth theatre company are keen to base themselves on the site. As an experienced international touring company with the environment at the core of their programme, they will be a great addition to the educational and entertainment capacity of the site.

4 Extract from website – “Potteric Carr is Yorkshire Wildlife Trust’s flagship nature reserve and the largest of 80 reserves owned or leased by YWT. It attracts over 33,000 visitors each year and is situated about two miles from the centre of Doncaster, close to the M18 and A1M motorways. Its wide range of habitats from open water and marsh to grassland and woodland, covering an area of about 200 ha (500 acres), give it a rich diversity of wildlife. In addition, Potteric Carr’s footpaths through attractive scenery make it an ideal venue for all kinds of visitors ranging from those who simply enjoy a walk in the outdoors to the nature enthusiast and photographer”. Small scale festivals will be a key part of the leisure activities

Wetland ecology and species identification will be carried out by Birmingham University



The site

All uses will be tested at business planning stage, favoured options include:

Space Use Managed by

Conference Hall As is – for conferencing and events Camberwell / Feber

Galleries Conversion to flexible workspace/ meeting rooms and theatre/exhibition area. Possible second phase

Camberwell / Feber

Exhibition Hall Conversion to workspace for small companies/meeting/research space

Camberwell / Feber

Café / Training Block As is - training Rooms + Cafe Camberwell / Feber

Welcome Hall Under community management as a visitor centre, organising school student trips etc (under discussion)

4th Pillar

Living Machine Waste water processing for the site. Possible fish farm, with alternative reed bed filtration

Life Park Ltd

Former project sites Restoration of amphitheatre, leasing to horticultural and training uses

Life Park Ltd

Portakabins Probable removal with application for car parking use given loss of main car park

4ha of land on west side of site Application for solar farm from WSS WSS

Land surrounding the existing buildings

Demonstration projects, housing and workspaces, consideration of turbine

Arup, Camberwell, Life Park Ltd

The main bridge into the site is adopted and can take traffic over 30 tons. About 40 car parking spaces exist adjacent to the conference centre and if some additional parking can be provided south of the river, we see no major planning issues at this stage and our development fits comfortably within the site’s Green Belt designation and the uses outlined in the Tender Brief, namely...

“Key uses acceptable on this site will be generally based around education and leisure uses including conservation and natural history interpretation centres, museums and galleries and conference and exhibition uses.”


Recent photo of Welcome Hall - in surprisingly good condition


8 Impact

LIfe Park will make its impact by taking low carbon and low energy technologies to the people and businesses of South Yorkshire and the region. Tools for impact measurement will be put in place from the start.

That will mean bringing people to the Park to learn about the technologies through seminars and demonstration projects, developing the technologies further through research and collaboration, housing and supporting the businesses that operate in the sector and delivering the skills training that will be needed (high and basic levels).

In addition the impact will be measured by the number of people visiting the site for leisure purposes, the number of children experiencing environmental education, volunteers involved in projects, the quality of the environmental management, the energy generated on site, related regeneration effects of additional housing and off-site new projects.

Demonstration turbines

School education trips

On site electric transport


Our targets

Our target figures have been gathered from experience elsewhere and we do not consider them excessive.

Within the sale site

Within 4 years

Jobs 200

New businesses 50

Training Places 500 per year

Conference and meeting 8,000 per year. visitors

Leisure pursuits 20,000 visitors a year

Community Resource 4th Pillar (Appendix C)

Low Carbon initiatives

Clean energy production: solar, wind, water, bio, ground source

Demonstration projects: using all the facilities of the above, plus horticulture and architecture

Research: five different collaboration projects already provisionally organised with universities

Sustainability education for schools: 400+ visiting school students a year

South of the sale site

Our partners WSS are already in discussions with Doncaster Council about the establishment of a 25 acre solar farm south of the river to the west of the scraped land.

We are also exploring bringing together the land owned by HSBC (the hotel) and the scraped land owned by Doncaster Council and designated for housing into an eco housing site through the Partnership for Renewables (owned by the Carbon Trust and HSBC).

We see the revival of the Earth Centre and marketability of a mixed tenure housing scheme (positive discussions held with one housing association) as closely linked and providing a sound asset base for the overall development.

8 Impact continued.


The strangely symbolic Earth Centre shipwreck. The recovery starts now!


9 Contacts

For further information on this submission please contact:

Chris Hill Shine Harehills Road Leeds LS6 2AH

E [email protected]

W shinebusinesscentre.co.uk

T +44 (0) 113 388 00 88

Bid for Earth Centre

Technology

Transcript of Bid for Earth Centre