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State of the art eco-centre opens in Wales
A new £5.2 million state of the art "green" college teaching environmental courses has opened in Machynlleth, mid Wales.
The Wales Institute for Sustainable Education (WISE) opened yesterday at the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) and is the biggest environmental facility of its kind in the UK.
Students will be able to study courses on wind power, solar water heating and organic gardening in an inspiring eco environment.
The college was built using a variety of sustainable building methods, including an environmentally-friendly concrete called hemcrete, which was sprayed onto heraklith (wood wool) board walls. The 200-seater circular lecture theatre has been made of "rammed earth", similar to that used in Cornwall’s Eden Project. Study bedrooms are fitted with energy monitors.
Paul Allen, director of CAT, said the centre will be pivotal in the transition to a zero carbon Britain; "As demand for retraining in the environmental sector increases, the opening of WISE could not come at a better time" he said. "I can think of no better organisation to take on the business of training up the thousands of engineers and skilled practitioners who will be needed to deliver a genuinely sustainable built environment".
For more information, visit the Centre for Alternative Technology website.