Breaking ground at Sandwell Valley

The day has finally arrived (we can hardly contain our excitement), we are so happy to announce to the world that building work on your new RSPB visitor centre has begun. There are diggers on site and ground has been broken.

When I first saw the big blue digger chugging its way up the Sandwell Valley driveway last week it hit me for the first time properly, like a Peregrine Falcon smacking into its prey in mid-air. Crash!! 

This time next year we will be in our swanky new visitor centre!! Not that I haven’t enjoyed working from our temporary SPA in the interim period. (that’s SPA for ‘semi-permanent accommodation’, not the type of SPA where you leave feeling revitalised, pampered an refreshed).

It was only when I walked up to the construction site and saw the digger pulling down the remnants of the old building that my excitement was tinged with sadness. The old building had stood for 25 years and, from what I have heard, gave birth to thousands of happy memories. Hundreds of welly-clad school children piled through those doors on school trips that might have sparked a lifetime of love for nature.  It is so fantastic, like a phoenix from the flames; the new building will rise from the same footprint as the old building over the next 6 months.

We absolutely could not do this without support, and it has come in many different forms over the past 4 years. It is thanks to the staff and volunteers at RSPB Sandwell Valley who, after the fire, continued to work from home. We kept going because of those volunteers, who continued to turn up, open the hide, lead guided walks and do wildlife surveys, despite no facilities on site. It is the support of the local community also, who carried on visiting and supporting our work. It is also because of all those thousands of RSPB members that I am writing this today. And of course, thank you to the funders who, like us, recognised that Sandwell Valley is a really special place for people and wildlife; they dug deep and helped make the dream of a new visitor centre a reality.

The Breathing New Life into Sandwell Valley project has been funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, Ibstock Cory Environmental Trust, Edward and Dorothy Cadbury Trust and other Charitable Trusts.

Our partnerships don’t stop there; I have to mention the actual people on the ground too. We are pleased to be working with Harpers construction and Katar consulting throughout out the rebuild.

Now then, you’ll be expecting regular updates I suppose? Look no further than this blog, because that’s precisely what you’re going to get.