open day at the earth centre

An open event has been arranged at the Earth Centre by the Council and a company wishing to take it on, the company is RTTG Rapid Technology Transfer Group. It has not been publicised to our knowledge and we must make sure that the community is not excluded again! So here it is.........................

Earthworks - Development Planning 2010

First Quarter – Open Days

This is an open invitation to all organisations and individuals willing to contribute expertise to restore the site of the former Earth Centre as a national resource for researching, understanding and practising sustainability.

Please e-mail mike@therttg.org to register and receive full details.

Outdoor wear is recommended. Photography for personal use is permitted in all areas.

Tuesday, February 9th

Site assessment 11.00 – 13.00 Guided tour of land and all
facilities of the former Earth
Centre at Conisborough, Senior
manager of Doncaster
Metropolitan Borough Council
available to answer questions.
Buffet lunch

Discussion 13.30 – 15.00 (Optional) Opportunity to identify
areas of potential collaboration and site/operations development.

Wednesday, March 31st

Site assessment 11.00 – 13.00 Close examination of land and all
facilities of the former Earth
Centre at Conisborough, Senior
manager of Doncaster
Metropolitan Borough Council
to provide update on site proposals.
Buffet lunch

Discussion 14.00 – 17.00 (Optional) Opportunity to detail
areas of likely collaboration and outline development schedules.

Earthworks/Earthlabs is an RTTG open partnership initiative

The Rapid Technology Transfer Group

The RTTG is a consortium of members and partners committed to the development and use of responsible technologies. A not-for-profit business, it works with industrial, commercial, professional, academic and community interest organisations that share its ambition of intelligent sustainability.

The Earthworks/Earthlabs Initiative

This initiative responds to the collapse of the Earth Centre Millennium Project in 2004 and to the opportunity to bring the former Earth Centre site into use again.

Against strong competition from commercial developers, the RTTG has been engaged in dialogue with the new site owner, Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council, for more than a year and has put forward an outline proposal for the 45ha site’s use as a key resource for ‘intelligent sustainability’.

The proposal is based on developing the site as a centre for discovering and demonstrating technologies and techniques that contribute to sustainable development. It sketches future arrangements in which activities are carried out by diverse organisations using their expertise to achieve shared objectives.

Discovery activities will range from doctoral research to field-based enquiry by young children, creating an inclusive capacity to ask questions and to find routes to the answers. This is the Earthlabs strand of the initiative and is open to responsible bodies in any sector.

Earthworks will focus on the development and demonstration of what makes an effective contribution to intelligent sustainability at any level: knowledge and understanding; techniques and practices; technologies and products. Also based on open partnership, this strand will provide detailed information to a wide range of audiences.

The site is well-resourced in terms of buildings, space and infrastructure and its landscape and planting can be brought back into full management within three years. It is both a challenge and an opportunity for responsible interest groups to share.

There is no doubt about the difficulty of combining expertise in activities that will produce a self-supporting facility and earn the esteem and support of diverse public, private and independent audiences. But the opportunity to reshape the purpose and future of the site is something that responsible organisations and individuals will not ignore.

The Open Days are designed to encourage thought and discussion about the formal proposal that should be presented in April, 2010 to Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council’s Cabinet. They are beginning of the opportunity to be part of a unique collective effort to establish intelligent sustainability in the fabric of industry, society, education and government. All relevant expertise is welcome.

Earthworks/Earthlabs is an RTTG open partnership initiative