Earth Centre, Doncaster

The Earth Centre, Doncaster was a large-scale visitor attraction which was established to provide both education and entertainment around environmental issues and sustainable practices.

It was located on a 400-acre former colliery site in Conisbrough, Metropolitan borough of Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England, which was seen at the time as one of the most environmentally damaged areas in the country.

Derek Lovejoy Partnership[4] produced a masterplan for the site, set in the valley of the canalised River Don, in January 1997 and work began that autumn with a land reclamation project by the Arup Group.

The masterplan study by Derek Lovejoy Partnership, with Battle McCarthy[5] as engineer, was a model document based on a series of concept plans and sections to describe energy flows, agriculture, waste recycling, play and sculpture.

Grant Associates’ role was to work with the engineer in co-ordinating levels, and with the architect in locating the buildings, as well as designing both hard and soft landscape.

[6] Grant Associates based their work at the site around principles of energy efficiency, water conservation, recycling and use of non-polluting materials to provide the basis for sustainable development.

New gardens were based on organic horticultural principles and explored unusual associations of planting that offered benefits for shelter, wildlife, food and timber.

Distinctive structures were developed using a combination of local stone, green oak and steel to establish a unique contemporary character within the site that complemented a historic surrounding landscape.

The Solar Canopy was a distorted timber space frame constructed using round wood poles of indigenous softwood with galvanised steel connectors.

This included a notable work by American stage designer, sculptor and architect George Tsypin, which featured a major installation of moving architectural elements, videos and 200 sculptures.

[9] The Arrivals building (which included The Solar Canopy) and the Planet Earth Galleries won the 2002 Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Award, with the judges commenting that ‘sustainability meets aesthetics and demonstrates it can provide all the elements of good architecture’.