Woodland Enterprise Centre

The Woodland Enterprise Centre in Flimwell, East Sussex is both WoodNet's base and an innovative (and award-winning) demonstration of what can be achieved with sustainable local timber resources.

The Centre is not generally open to the public, we host events and courses, and the facilities are available for hire. The building includes office space for several rural business including the High Weald AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty). It is located in 20 hectares of mixed broadleaved / conifer and coppice woodland.

The hall and training/meeting room at Woodland Enterprise Centre are available for hire.

If you would like to hire the hall or the training room at the Woodland Enterprise Centre, please contact David Saunders, Woodnet
Tel: 01580 879552

Email: info@woodnet.org.uk

Hall

The hall is 12m x 12m and can be used for seminars, workshops and training courses, as well as inside /outside events taking advantage of the surrounding 20 hectares of woodland.

Training Room

The Training Room is suitable for meetings for up to 10 people.

Workspace is available at the Woodland Enterprise Centre on long or short-term lettings, depending on requirements.   The WEC office suites are fitted out to a high standard, with full security and CAT5 network wiring.

The WEC building has communal meeting areas, including a large hall for seminars, workshops and training days.

WORKSHOPS
A cluster of Workshop / Offices have been developed on the site. These comprise 90m2 units, some of which have been increased by mezzanines, or joined to form larger units.  The frames are constructed from locally-sourced FSC-certified Douglas fir, and use sheep's wool and wood fibre natural insulation.

Currently occupied by a rural businesses (General B1 Use), space may become available to rent or purchase. Additional units may also be constructed for a suitable long-term rural business tenants wishing to join the cluster.

Please see entry below for Office Space to rent in main Woodland Enterprise Building
Please contact us for further information.

Arising out of an architectural competition, the first of the buildings at the Woodland Enterprise Centre was completed in 2003 and demonstrates the use of locally-sourced wood in contemporary timber design.

The winning team, led by architects Feilden Clegg Bradley, used atelier one engineers and InWood Developments Ltd, to research the use of small-section timbers, rather than heavy beams, to support the structure.

Built from both softwood and hardwood timber harvested in the south-east, including a structural gridshell from locally-grown chestnut coppice, the WEC building demonstrates how timber can be used to create elegant and low-impact developments, which contribute to the local rural economy, and maintains our environment by stimulating new markets to support the restoration of the many neglected woodlands in southern England.

The Woodland Enterprise Centre has expanded to include a group of timber workshops and is now a showcase of sustainable construction, placed carefully within the mixed woodland in the High Weald of Sussex. 

As well as the extensive use of engineered timber and modified wood products, the developments at WEC have used many low embodied energy materials, natural insulation materials (Warmcell, sheep's wool and wood fibre).  By demonstrating the use of locally-sourced timber species, such as Sweet Chestnut, Scots Pine, Douglas fir and European Larch, the WEC has demonstrated how development can be very low environmental impact, and also make a positive contribution to woodland management in the region.

Sustainable construction using local timber puts value back into the neglected coppices and plantations of south-east England, and provides a commercial incentive for more sustainable forest management.

The buildings are heated by an automated wood-fuelled boiler system, and all the developments have been designed to be low-energy consuming, and recyclable at the end of its life.

Further timber developments are planned for this site, and partners are sought for developing this WEC timberbuild "cluster" at Flimwell.

The innovative feature of this gridshell design is the use of small dimension sweet chestnut timber, which is naturally durable, and very strong, especially when grown quickly from coppice woodlands.  By selecting short lengths of defect-free timber, and then re-joining them using modern glues and manufacturing processes, the timber laths can be assembled as structural building components for interior joinery or exterior use, including untreated rain-screen cladding.

The new timber workshops at Flimwell has also used finger-jointed Douglas fir for the cruck frame and rainscreen cladding as well as Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) for the roof / wall cladding panels.