Stonehenge Visitor Centre Design Unveiled
English Heritage has unveiled the design for its proposed new Stonehenge visitor centre, after months of anticipation. The plans were revealed as a planning application for the complex was sent to Wiltshire Council for approval. Located at Airman's Corner some 1.5 miles west of the landmark, the new centre will include exhibition space, a café, shop and toilet facilities for the million-or-so people who flock to the ancient stones each year. It will comprise two single-storey buildings, one made from wood, the other glass, and a transit system will allow visitors to move to and from the centre.
Loraine Knowles, EH's Stonehenge project director is confident the new centre will make Stonehenge a more attractive proposal for tourists. "The new centre is designed to blend into the World Heritage landscape," she says, "which visitors will pass through on their way to the stones. It will provide enhanced opportunities for education and interpretation, and have first class facilities in keeping with Stonehenge’s status as a world-renowned tourist attraction."
"If a visitor can remember their trip but not the visitor centre, we will be happy."
The visitor centre is part of long-awaited plans to purify the area surrounding Stonehenge, which include the removal of its current adjacent centre and the grassing over of the controversial A344 main road, which sees traffic run just metres from the monument. Wiltshire Council is seeking a Traffic Regulation Order, which would restrict the number of vehicles allowed on the road. Stephen Quinlan, of architects Denton Corker Marshall, says: " If once back at home, a visitor can remember their visit to the stones but can’t remember the visitor centre they passed through on the way, we will be happy."
Stonehenge has barely been away from the headlines recently. Only last week the discovery of another stone circle, dubbed 'Bluestonehenge', was made just a few miles away from its better known neighbour. Some experts believe the new site proffered some of Stonehenge's famous bluestones, and could have been part of a cremation ritual across the area.
Don't forget - if you want to see Stonehenge without travelling to Wiltshire, take a look at our very own Stonehenge Virtual, coming soon.
Read 4 comments, or leave your own
videos
Comments
This looks like a vast improvement and a good solution - is there finally going to be a happy ending to the stonehenge saga? I imagine there will be a lot of complaints by sedentary tourists about the 1 and a half mile walk to the stones, but personally I would love to see a 'cleaner' environment for the henge, without the major road going practically through the middle of it. It gets my vote for blending with its environment.
English Heritage have made the first funding step on the way to their new centre, with £1million from the South West Regional Development Agency. Tourism is worth £9billion per year to the area, much of which comes from the vast numbers attending the famous stones near Salisbury.
...And the government have made the next big step in the visitor centre's life: £10million has been afforded to the project, as part of a £175million injection for upgrades to Tate Modern, the BFI Imax cinema and the British Library. Minister for Culture, Media and Sport Ben Bradshaw admitted Stonehenge needs its new facilities: Stonehenge is one of our best-known historic attractions, but facilities for visitors are below par," he says.
"This will mean Stonehenge will be ready to cope with all the extra visitors expected because of the Olympics," adds Mr Bradshaw. "The capital investment means our most iconic World Heritage Site will finally be able to welcome visitors in a way that is fitting to its international importance."
The Guardian reports that a Government design watchdog has now criticised the plans for the new visitor centre, already approved by the Wiltshire county council. Quite a memorable quote: "Its footpaths are "tortuous", the roof likely to "channel wind and rain" and its myriad columns – meant to evoke a forest – are incongruous with the vast landscape surrounding it."
Post new comment