Sutton Courtenay Environmental Education Centre, Oxon: decking and path replacement

Our Environmental Education Centre at Sutton Courtenay includes a custom built education centre with indoor
classroom and facilities for wet weather and an extensive nature reserve including outdoor learning spaces and
a bird hide. Care has been taken in the design to ensure that the facilities are fully accessible; the new wildlife garden was designed to include ramp access to the centre, and there is a surfaced path from the centre around the nature reserve.

Two areas of decking/ramp and path on site have degraded and are currently or are close to making the facilities
unusable. These are:
– decking in front of the two main entrances to the building is rotting and threatening to collapse in places.
If it becomes unsafe, the classroom will be unusable as it is failing outside the two fire exits. This area also
comprises the main entrance to the building through the wildlife garden and is also the accessible
entrance via the ramp through the garden. To make the area safe again, the decking needs to be
replaced.
– The ramp at the entrance to the bird hide has had to be removed by our volunteers for safety reasons
and temporary stairs put in to enable some access. The hide is currently closed to the public. To make
the bird hide fully accessible again and used by the many community groups, we need to replace the old
infrastructure with a ramp leading up to the hide, and a surfaced path to connect the ramp with the
accessible surfaced track that leads from the centre to the hide.

The project will mean that these facilities remain fully accessible and available for use by the full range of
children’s and community groups who use the site throughout the year, including:
– Approximately 1500 schoolchildren visit the site annually, both primary and secondary, including some
from disadvantaged backgrounds via bursaries
– ‘Nature, natter and nibbles’: a monthly adult social group including those with reduced mobility
– Style Acre: a local charity providing care and work experience for adults with learning difficulties; this
group uses the hide
– Family events: 25 days per year including holiday day camps for children
– Wildlife clubs for children and teens, weekly during term
– Adult events including quarterly sunrise walks and dawn chorus walks, which use the hide
– External site hires such as the RSPB children’s group, who use the hide