| Project | Great Fen |
| Brief | New Visitor Centre and Landscape Masterplan for the Great Fen |
| Date | 2013 |
| Location | England |
Ninety-nine percent of the great East Anglian wetland has been lost over time. Rare and endangered species of fenland plants and animals are now compressed into tiny refuge areas, precious fragments of wild fen. Two of these, Holme Fen National Nature Reserve and Woodwalton Fen National Nature Reserve are central to the Great Fen Vision which seeks to create around and between them a restored fenland landscape, a Living Landscape for wildlife and people.
The gradually restored landscape around our propsed Great Fen Visitor Centre will over time become dotted with lightweight timber ‘fen huts’, modest sheds with a multitude of uses: bird hides, landscape interpretation, cafe, smokehouse, workshop, distillery - connected by a network of raised boardwalks. The footings of an existing barn are used as the base for the new visitor hub and workshop for the construction of these huts. The huts, which are based on a standard pattern will incoporate different local materials – thatch, willow, clay, timber - and the construction of the huts will be part of a charitable sustainable construction apprenticeship programme. They will be wheeled out into position along the boardwalks and can be brought back to ‘base’ for re-fitting and repair. This would all be part of the theatre of the visitor experience.
