Green Conferences

As Lancashire’s leading local wildlife charity, we are committed to minimising the impact of our activities on the environment. We source products for our shops and restaurant from regional producers wherever possible, and we source products and services from suppliers who share and demonstrate our environmental objectives.

Our ultimate mission is to preserve and enhance the biodiversity and natural heritage of the nature reserve, and the profits from every conference booking are fed straight back into our vital conservation work.

The design brief was to construct a sustainable building in the middle of a flood plain. To meet these requirements the Visitor Village is built on a 2,400 square metre concrete pontoon that floats on the lake and incorporates the highest environmental standards.

Heating, lighting, temperature and CO2 levels are all monitored by building detectors linked to a sophisticated computer management system.

Heating is provided by a high efficiency, low emission biomass boiler burning locally-sourced wood fuel. 

Our buildings are extremely well insulated to keep them warm in winter and cool in summer. Natural ventilation also helps to maintain the building temperatures.

All electric lighting is highly efficient, with controls that automatically dim and/or turn off the lights when there is enough daylight available or the spaces are unoccupied. We continually monitor our energy consumption and set targets for improvement.

Drinking water comes from a 60m borehole after passing through a filtration plant. Water consumption is minimised by using low-use fittings such as low volume taps and low flush toilets. Toilet flushing is provided by rain water harvested from the lake.

Waste water from the toilets and the kitchen is pumped to a septic tank, from where it is discharged to a reed bed treatment area.  The reed bed was built by volunteers and as well as treating our waste water it provides a great home for wildlife.

Our Visitor Village and conference buildings have been awarded several accolades for sustainability including the prestigious architectural accreditation; BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ for the interim design stage.

We have also been awarded a Green Tourism Gold Award, following a site inspection which concluded that Brockholes was an extremely sustainable destination.