Bowcliffe Hall’s Blackburn Wing is a triumph of architectural design and build. Paying tribute to aviation hero Robert Blackburn, a Yorkshireman who not only lived at Bowcliffe Hall, but also introduced the first scheduled air service in Great Britain and designed and built one of the first powered aeroplanes, the majestic 2,000 sq ft treehouse-style conference and events venue is nestled in the ancient woodland at the heart of the Bowcliffe estate.
WATCH: This brilliant time lapse video shows the build of the stunning Blackburn Wing…
Such a building takes some creation, so we decided to find out some lesser known facts and stories about this beautiful building…
- The Blackburn Wing took approximately 50 weeks and 30,000 man-hours to complete.
- Due to the fact the Wing is located on and in ancient woodland, the planners were particularly concerned to avoid the risk of root damage to the woodland’s ancient beech trees so planning conditions led to a complex programme designed to minimise loading and ensure that the original topography was maintained. There were strict planning conditions that dictated there was to be no disturbance of the ground (other than for the absolutely necessary foundations). These strict planning conditions meant that even the pile caps (concrete blacks at the foot of the steel columns) had to be exposed.
- Next time you enter the Wing, take a moment to notice the bust of Amy Johnson (a pioneering English aviator who was the first female pilot to fly alone from Britain to Australia) that sits adjacent to the main walkway. The bust is strategically placed to hide the control box for the rising main, (a vertical pipe that rises from the ground to supply mains water to the Wing) which is concealed in the plinth beneath Amy’s head!
- The Wing stands an impressive 15 meters tall.
- The Wing was a real test for the talented team of builders, the fact that it stands on stilts and has an elliptically shaped roof made access above and below the framework challenging on even the best of days. The scaffold was raised and lowered roughly ten times to suit various trades at different stages of the build.
- From start to finish, the build of the Wing cost just shy of £1million.
- During the build, contractors worked in temperatures that ranged from a scorching 32°C to a truly nippy -15°C.
- Jonathan Turner was fully committed to reinvesting the ‘Yorkshire pound’ and a significant amount of time was spent researching the very best companies in Yorkshire who could provide the materials and labour needed to complete the Wing. Unbelievably, the project achieved an incredible 82% spend in Yorkshire. Amongst many others, some of the materials sourced from Yorkshire companies were; the Glulam Beams from Hull, the aluminum frames from Wakefield, Glazing, including balustrading delivered from Huddersfield and the beautiful wood flooring was from Bradford.
- Perhaps the most prominent and important design feature of the Wing are the stunning, curved beams or ‘ribs’. There are 54 of these distinctive ‘ribs’ in total – and each took four days to make. That’s 216 days of curved beam creation – wow!
10. Not all the design features in the Wing were from Yorkshire, with the two interior focal points – the magnificent bar and table – coming all the way from Milan. Jonathan Turner commissioned Carlo Panciroli of ArteinMotion to create both these completely bespoke pieces. The bar was created from a 747 engine intake cowling, whilst the frame of one of two aeroplane wing tables originally the wing structure from a Hawker Siddley. One of the tables is the tail fin of a DC9 and the other is the wing tip of a Bearcat.
11. The Wing is heated by a Ground Source Heat pump. Even in the depths of winter there is sufficient heat drawn from the ground to heat the building. There are 2 180M long pipes filled with a special heat transferring liquid which are located under the Wing. This is one of the most ecologically sustainable methods of heating and is used on all the buildings throughout the estate.