The ins and outs of the Welcome Building...

You might have seen the building work going on in passing, but I thought it could be useful to tell you a little bit more about what the new Welcome Building will hold..

Facilities at the Welcome Building will include:

• Toilets
• Mobility buggies and wheelchairs
• Information desk for general enquiries
• Membership
• Ticketing
• Dog tie-up
• Interpretation

Other facilities at Westonbirt will stay where they are. Visitor Services by the Great Oak Hall will retain First Aid, Lost Property and help with general enquiries. The Westonbirt Shop, Plant Centre and Restaurant will all remain as they are.

All of the Welcome Building ticket gates are suitable for buggies and pushchairs, the central gate is the widest to allow group entry but automation on all the gates can be overridden. The ticket gates can be set in either direction. So, on the morning of a busy autumn day more lanes will be ‘in’ and in the afternoon more can be ‘out’.

The Welcome Building will be open for all functions at 9am each morning when the arboretum opens. Throughout the year, the Welcome Building functions will close at 5pm.

In the summer months, Friends of Westonbirt Arboretum will be able to enter through the Welcome Building after 5pm using their automated cards although the rest of the building will be shut.

Not to be forgotten, the building will also be beautiful! Throughout, the building has been designed with attention to detail and high design standards. The floor is made of pennant stone from the Forest of Dean, the main frame is of Douglas fir, the roof shingles and external walls are made of Western red cedar. Its aesthetics are as important as its functions: it reminds us of the arboretum’s history while exciting us about the present and pointing to the future.

By Paul, Head of Visitor Attraction.