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Sustainability Event - 15 May 2005

Posted: 19/01/2005

England’s leading museum of historic buildings will be looking to the future on Sunday 15 May, when it hosts its fourth annual celebration of sustainability and ‘green’ building technology. The Sustainability Event at the Weald & Downland Open Air Museum at Singleton, near Chichester, West Sussex will focus on exciting developments in modern building methods, materials and techniques, as well as examining other areas of sustainability such as alternative energy sources and efficiency, recycling and sustainable water use.

The event will appeal to both domestic users and building professionals. See how to use environmentally-friendly, sustainable products and techniques at home or in commercial construction and restoration projects. Man-made materials for the building trade at one end of the scale and buildings made out of straw at the other!

The Sustainability Event will include a presentation by Amazon Nails, entitled ‘Building with Straw.’ There will be an accompanying demonstration of the building of a small straw bale house outside on the Museum site, visitors are welcome to join in. There will be numerous displays demonstrating low impact building products and techniques, and products for sustainable living, such as waste water treatment, timber from renewable sources, solar and biomass heating, sun tubes, paints and insulation.

The Museum will also be promoting new Green Day-schools, in partnership with Bognor Regis-based Impetus Consulting, which will address environmental issues in the home. Learn new approaches to energy, home refurbishment and planning for a greener garden.

The Museum – whose main exhibits are 45 historic buildings constructed from locally-sourced natural materials – already demonstrates sustainable methods in two modern buildings on its site.

The Downland Gridshell, the Museum’s award-winning conservation workshop and collections store, is designed for low environmental impact and was previously shortlisted for the RICS Building of the Year award in the Energy Efficiency category. The Museum has also combined traditional and sustainable modern materials in the hall attached to its working Tudor Kitchen. This modern structure, which represents the footprint of the original Tudor farmhouse, uses woodwool panels and Warmcell (recycled newsprint) insulation in the walls, with eight inches of Thermafleece insulation — made from English sheep’s wool — in the roof. These materials would normally be hidden under plaster but have been left exposed for visitors to see.

The Sustainability Event will be held on 15 May from 10.30am – 5.00pm. Admission charges are: adults £7.70, over 60s £6.70; children £4.10, family ticket £21, and include a full day’s entry to all the Museum buildings and outdoor exhibits. Group rates are also available.

For further information contact Cathy Clark, Marketing Officer on 01243 811363, fax 01243 811475, email marketing@wealddown.co.uk . Further details about the Museum and its activities are also available on the Museum information line on 01243 811348, or at www.wealddown.co.uk .

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