Lunt learning centre is taking shape

After many years of planning, the construction of a brand-new Learning Centre is finally underway at Lunt Meadows says Sam Siddique .

Lunt Meadows is popular with visitors and one of our more unusual reserves. It is a haven for rare wetland wildlife, contains the remains of 9,000-yearold middle stone age settlements, and the whole site has been designed to function as a flood storage reservoir in times of extreme weather, protecting homes within the Alt-Crossens catchment from a changing climate. A timber cabin design, the Learning Centre will bring much-needed facilities to Lunt Meadows, with a classroom, toilets, seating area, kitchen, and a volunteer room.

Cheryl Ashton, Project Manager for Lunt Meadows, said: “The Learning Centre has taken many years of planning. Feedback from visitors and volunteers has often included the desire for toilets and shelter on site.

“Lunt is a beautiful place with vast open skies, but this also means it is very open to the elements. With a building on site, we can make visits more comfortable for all and increase our staff presence, which in turn will allow us to improve our engagement and conservation work, while keeping an eye on the wildlife’s wellbeing.”

A lot of thought has gone into the design of the Learning Centre. The cabin has been manufactured in Carnforth by a UK company, delivered in sections and is being constructed by a local workforce.

On arrival, these sections are fitted together. An air source heat pump will generate underfloor heating. Some of the furniture and kitchen cabinets will be crafted from wood processed at our Mere Sands Wood reserve.

Wildflowers and reeds will be planted around the centre too, to create more space for wildlife and give visitors a small taster of the wider species within the rest of the reserve.

Planning and construction of the Learning Centre has faced many obstacles since the development of the idea, so we are thrilled that work has finally started.

The new centre is part of a wider programme of works to improve the visitor experience and habitats at Lunt Meadows, supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

The Presenting Mesolithic and Modern Life Project aims to give visitors and the extended community an understanding of how humans have interacted with the landscape over thousands of years, how landscape changes affect human lives and how these choices influence our future.

It is a five-year long partnership between Lancashire Wildlife Trust, the Museum of Liverpool, the Deparment of History and Archaeology, at the University of Chester, and Soroptimist International Crosby.

The project start date was delayed until December 2020 by Covid when many of our staff were furloughed, and we were further hampered by a catastrophic flood in January 2021, when the river Alt embankment collapsed, and the site had to close for months while repairs took place.

Like many others, we have also been dealing with spiralling costs and material shortages in the construction industry. We applied for further funding and worked with our suppliers to adapt the centre’s design to be as cost-effective as possible, but as we would make up one shortfall, the costs would go up again.

Thankfully, we had several players who have ensured we could progress with the build, including our partnership with the Environment Agency, increased support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, a grant from the Garfield Weston Foundation and from all our donors to the Big Give Green Match Fund 2022.

We are so grateful for this support, and for our volunteers, who give their time to improve the habitats and the infrastructure we do have. Their hard work, carried out in all weathers, means that despite the lack of facilities, Lunt Meadows has remained a popular reserve for wildlife and people. The Centre will be located near the main entrance on what has, until now, been the main route for vehicles.

A new track, with a passing place, will become the new route for cars to access the car park. You can keep up to date with the building progress and other developments at Lunt Meadows by following the Merseyside Team’s Facebook page.