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Peak District National Park Authority
New Build, Sited in AONB
Baynes and Mitchell Architects
4th Floor , 27 Poland Street , London , Greater London , W1F 8QW , United Kingdom
The project is currently at planning stage and has been tendered as a design and build contract. Fairholmes Visitor Centre, in the Upper Derwent Valley is situated in woodland approximately 440m south of the Grade II listed Derwent Dam which is famous for its connection with the raid by the Dambusters in WWII. The proposed site of the new building currently comprises an area used for picnic benches, parking bays and amenity grassland. The wider site comprises an existing visitor centre building, which houses a small shop and information point, small hot and cold food kiosk, public toilets and a ranger base. The immediate area in front of the existing building has a number of benches and an information shelter. Pre-application consultation has been invaluable; ensuring the final design of the building is compliant with the Peak District National Park Design Guide allowing the incorporation of suggested changes to the building where possible. The proposed works at Fairholmes comprise the remodelling of the existing building to provide a new Changing Places toilet, to enlarge the kiosk and provide further female toilets. Changing Places toilets meet the needs of people with profound and multiple learning disabilities, as well as people with other physical disabilities. The existing shop and information point will be relocated to the new building, alongside the new Dambusters exhibition space, indoor café and disabled toilet. The proposed improvements to the visitor centre at Fairholmes will help to deliver Severn Trent’s strategic drivers which include the need “to serve our communities and build a lasting water legacy”.