A historic Day for Lincoln Castle
The official opening of Lincolnshire County Council’s Heritage Skills Centre in the grounds of Lincoln Castle took place on Friday 8 February. Lord Cormack and Viscount Linley unveiled a commemorative stone plaque to officially open the Centre.
Over 100 invited guests attended the opening including representatives from the various organisations involved in the design and build of the Centre. Delegates included Angela Cobb from project managers, Mouchel; Andrew Arrol and Rob Green from Arrol & Snell Ltd, Architects and representatives from William G Dick Partnership LLP Quantity Surveyors as well as David Woodhead, the Managing Director of Robert Woodhead Limited, the building contractors. A number of local councillors also attended as well as Mary Powell and Claire Butler from Lincolnshire County Council.
The opening included a cake cutting ceremony. The cake commissioned by Robert Woodhead Ltd was a replica of the Heritage Skills Centre, which the construction company built to BREEAM Very Good with a Considerate Constructors score of 36.5 out of 40 which was achieved by Peter Winson, Site Manger and the Site Team.
Fitting for the Heritage Skills Centre opening, guests were also able to enjoy demonstrations of traditional crafts by Heath Shakespeare, the head mason of the Castle Walls project and Martin Brooks Roofing. The Castle Walls project is part of the wider ‘Lincoln Castle Revealed’ project which sees the regeneration of the Lincoln Castle site and is headed by Mary Powell, Tourism Development Manager at Lincolnshire County Council.
Mary Powell confirmed, “The official opening of the Heritage Skills Centre is excellent news as we aim to encourage additional tourism to Lincoln and Lincoln Castle in particular. The goal is to show visitors that buildings of this age need constant attention and that we are training the next generation of craftspeople to do just that.”
Speeches from Lord Cormack and Viscount Linley highlighted the importance of preserving traditional crafts as well as the Heritage Skills Centre’s place as a building providing a great example of sustainability and the use of green technology. During the construction of the building, Robert Woodhead Ltd spent over 80% of the budget within a 30 mile radius of the site. Not only is the Centre a highly sustainable building with sustainable timber, air source heat pumps, green roof, MVHR, Hempcrete paneling, under floor heating and rain water harvesting, even during construction every effort was made to minimise waste and keep the environmental impact as low as possible.
For further details regarding the Heritage Skills Centre project please see visit our YouTube channel to see the five Heritage Skills Centre films.
The Heritage Skills Centre development is part of a larger regeneration project with £19.9 million set aside by Lincolnshire County Council. The aim is to attract over 250,000 visitors a year to Lincoln Castle.
Robert Woodhead Ltd is a local builder aiming to make building a better experience for all. You can be assured that Robert Woodhead Ltd is here to stay. Established in 1946 and incorporated in 1978 we have grown steadily and now more quickly. With 69 employees and an on-going portfolio of projects, we are the partner of choice for anyone looking for a successful and proven construction company.
www.robert-woodhead.co.uk Contact: Glenn Slater 01623 873624 YouTube: search Robert Woodhead Ltd
Heritage Skills Centretre project page