Residents can share their views on the Natural History Museum’s proposals for a new research centre at Thames Valley Science Park in Shinfield.
The museum intends to submit a planning application later this year, most likely November, so it is holding an information event next Thursday (14th September) to display its plans and ask what people think.
This event isn’t run by Wokingham Borough Council and is separate from the statutory consultation which they will hold once they receive the application. You’ll have a chance to tell them your views at this later stage, before any decision is made.
However, the council says it is pleased that the museum is engaging with the community. The event is at the Gateway Building (1 Collegiate Square, RG2 9LH) across two sessions: one from 3.30pm to 4.45pm and another from 6.15pm to 8pm.
If you can’t attend, you can view the plans online and email the team.
Working with others to solve climate challenges
The museum is proposing a sustainable new flagship centre to hold 28 million specimens from across 4.6 billion years. This will serve as a hub for scientific research and digitising data to share with others around the world.
The items, comprising about one-third of its collection, will range from large creatures like anteaters and zebras to shells and ancient fossils – and will play a part in researching solutions to the climate emergency.
In recent years, the museum’s research has helped to predict viral outbreaks by studying animals and predict the impact of climate change on different species by looking at the evolution of their skulls.
The museum says its existing sites are aging and increasingly unfit so this move, the largest of its kind in the world, will secure its future. The centre won’t be open to the public but it hopes to work with the community in other ways.
This project, if approved, would be funded by more than £200 million in Government investment. It’s hoped that construction could start in late 2024 and finish in 2027, with the building coming into use from 2031.
Efforts to reduce the impact of development
The building’s features would include an energy efficient design beyond the minimum standards, along with efficient lighting and equipment, as well as air source heat pumps and the use of renewable energy sources.
It would would also include ‘habitat zones’ of tree planting around the boundaries to benefit local wildlife and reduce the visual impact, as well as features like a pond, grasslands, landscaping and more.
Part of a growing research community
Thames Valley Science Park is owned and run by the University of Reading, which won a Queen’s Anniversary Prize in 2021 for its work on climate change. It was created as part of the borough’s major development at Shinfield parish.
It is also home to the Cine Valley project, a major international film and television production hub including Shinfield Studios, which is now well under construction and counts Disney among its first clients.
Meanwhile, the British Museum is progressing its plans for an Archaeological Research Centre on the site – a specialist unit housing thousands of ancient sculptures, mosaics and other artefacts.
