In with the new …

Work on the first phase Visitor Centre, encompassing a Green Energy Centre and the Kent Mining Museum has now commenced and is due to open in 2018.

The new £9.5m state-of-the-art facility will be an architectural icon boasting Kent’s best EPC rating and have BREEAM Excellent certification. It will provide retail, cycling facilities, education, conferencing, events, gardens and public spaces, as well as offering an outstanding entrance to the 250-acre country park and its exceptional leisure and recreation facilities.

Celebrating East Kent’s mining heritage will be a key focus for the Visitor Centre and wider Park. It will provide opportunities to showcase the unique story of Kent’s mining communities and profile their heritage through a combination of the Museum, heritage trails and online mining archive. A Green Energy Centre will make use of solar panels and a CHP biomass boiler to generate clean energy for both the Park and the national grid. Visitors to the Park will be able to see energy production, engage with and learn from it.

Betteshanger will deliver a unique opportunity for everyone to see how ‘old energy’ can be transformed into ‘new energy’. It will connect people with energy and energy with people.