Westonbirt Project update
Fundraising for Phase Two of the Westonbirt Project is now complete. Work has begun on the STIHL Treetop Walkway and the Wolfson Tree Management Centre, which will give visitors an exciting new perspective on trees and allow us to better care for the arboretum’s important collection.
Work is underway on the STIHL Treetop Walkway and contractors, Speller Metcalfe, have been creating a temporary stone access track to limit the impact of the construction vehicles. The access track will be used by mini diggers for the foundations, and for dumpers and the crane. Once the walkway is nearing completion they will remove this track and reinstate it with top soil.
During the construction of the Treetop Walkway, an area around the work will be designated as a 'dogs on-lead zone' - you'll find this construction zone marked on the map in the summer edition of the Westonbirt Magazine and in the summer seasonal guide leaflet, which can be picked up from the Welcome Building.
We'd like to say a big thank you to all of our dog-walking visitors for abiding by signs requesting that dogs are put on leads for a short time during their visit, thus making sure the arboretum remains a safe an enjoyable place to visit and work in as we see these exciting changes take place onsite.
Over at the site of the Wolfson Tree Management Centre, the carpenters have used a 500mm x 300mm piece of timber to create the first "king post", one of five in the new machinery store.
This image shows two members of staff from Westonbirt's Tree Team looking into the construction site, and what will eventually become their new base at the arboretum. This is where visitors will be able to look through at the new viewing area which will bring them closer to the work we do to care for our trees.
This image shows timber sourced here at Westonbirt and from the Longleat estate laid out as fabrication gets underway on the timber frame.
