The Earth Centre was conceived as an environmental and educational visitor development in South Yorkshire in 1989. The site consisted of 300 acres of reclaimed coal field, bounded by a significant limestone escarpment and the confluence of two rivers.

A successful Millennium Fund bid resulted in our appointment alongside Grant Associates as landscape designers to produce a masterplan for the £120 million scheme. We were also appointed as architects for the Entrance Building and the Planet Earth Gallery which were among the first Millennium projects to open in May 1999.

The Planet Earth gallery is partly buried underground, beneath a grass meadow roof and behind a rampart wall of stone and concrete. The Entrance Building is a lightweight timber and glass pavilion. The Entrance Canopy linking the two buildings supports a 1,000 sqm array of photovoltaic cells, which provided around a fifth of the power for the buildings’ electrical requirements. This timber space-frame structure demonstrates an innovative use of a sustainable building material, and its elaborate geometry forms a dynamic contrast with the purity and simplicity of the adjacent building forms.

The major challenges in the scheme were to work within strict sustainability criteria to a very rapid timetable. Sadly, declining visitor numbers led to the closure of the Earth Centre in 2004; options for reuse are now being considered.

Client: The Earth Centre

Construction value: £6,500,000

Completion: March 1999

“On approaching the building it is clear that this is an exciting project, one in which the architects have really got into the spirit of the place. It is “sustainability meets aesthetics” and demonstrates that sustainability really can provide all the elements of good architecture.”
RIBA Award 2002