Green Wood Centre

Woodland College, designed for the Green Wood Trust by architects Simmonds Mills, is an example of sustainable architecture. The design incorporates high levels of energy efficiency and an innovative timber structure utilising local timber.

The main support columns are sweet chestnut tree trunks concreted into place. Upper structure are peeled ash logs that could be replaced if necessary. Other species used in the College are Douglas fir (window frames and external cladding), European larch (wall studs, ceiling rafters and also external cladding) and English oak for the window sub sills.

Woodland College is used as an office space, a teaching room for woodland craft courses, a conference venue and for community events. The Woodland College holds 70 people seated and 100 standing.

The Woodland College has several environmentally friendly features.

Solar radiation – The orientation of the building enables the optimum usage of solar energy entering the building.

Heat exchangers – The heat exchangers take the heat from outgoing air and preheat the cold, fresh incoming air, which is then sent around the building. It is calculated that the heat exchangers will maintain an average temperature of 11 degrees Celsius, which means that only a small use of the heating system is needed to top up the building's requirements.

Windows – incorporating double-glazed units and low emissivity glass, together with insulated spacer bars and extra deep window frames. The windows thus allow more heat in over the year than they let escape.

Heat storage – The internal walls are built using dense concrete blocks in order to store heat gained during warmer periods and retain warmth in the colder periods. This helps to maintain the temperature inside the building while the outside temperature fluctuates.

Green Wood Centre is situated on the old Coalbrookdale railway station site. The once-derelict Station House has been restored and now houses the head office for the Small Woods Association.[2]

The Cruck framed or Coracle Barn was constructed in 1988. The barn is made from wood sourced from the Gorge. The frame is made from oak, ash and elm whilst the roof is covered with chestnut shingles and the wall panels are woven hazel and sweet chestnut. The design is based upon a Herefordshire cruck barn at Avoncroft Museum of Historic Buildings in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire.

A display of coracles is held in the Cruck Barn for the general public to view. Coracles have a long history in Ironbridge. As there was a toll for using the bridge, locals would use a coracle instead to cross the river. They were also used to collect driftwood and, if the floods had trapped an animal, the coraclemen would paddle across to net them, giving them a reputation as poachers.