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Bringing nature to life at the home of Rolls-Royce
Rolls Royce has announced a ‘rewilding’ project at the firm’s Goodwood manufacturing site. The company has asked young designers to get involved.
Designers are being invited to submit ideas for a feature in the Wildlife Garden. This garden will be at the Home of Rolls Royce, in a nationwide competition.
As well as ideas to nurture wildlife, such as pollinator-friendly plants, trees and flowers, bird feeders, bug hotels and nest-boxes, children can design seats, shelters, sculpture and other items that would make the Garden more appealing to Goodwood’s human population.
The winner will be chauffeur-driven to the Home of Rolls Royce. They will then perform an official opening ceremony, before viewing their feature in its new setting.
The winner and runner-up will also receive a unique 3D computer-generated image of the Wildlife Garden. Their feature will be in pride of place.
Torsten Müller-Ötvös, Chief Executive Officer, Rolls Royce Motor Cars, said:
“We established our Wildlife Garden when the Home of Rolls Royce was first created in 2003. It was a dedicated area within our 42-acre site that would be in its natural state.
“Over the intervening years, we have seen changes in approaches to conservation. We wanted to enhance our own project in line with rewilidng developments.
“We also felt it was important to respond to people’s renewed engagement with and concern for local environment.
“It’s appropriate to involve children in this endeavour. Preserving wildlife and habitat matters to them because it is their future at stake.
Rolls Royce wildlife garden
The Wildlife Garden occupies a small, secluded area of the Goodwood site to the south of The Drive.
It provides a great habitat for a wide variety of plants, insects and animals native to the area. It also offers valuable opportunities to observe and learn about nature for groups including children.
Other frequent visitors to the Wildlife Garden include the inhabitants of the Goodwood Apiary. This is a colony of around 250,000 English Honey Bees housed in a secluded location elsewhere on the site.
The bees are responsible for producing ‘the Rolls Royce of honey’. This is a rare and exquisite natural bounty reserved for the marque’s customers and VIP guests.
Councillor Penny Plant said:
“The Rolls Royce Wildlife Garden sits within our proposed Strategic Wildlife Corridor. It runs east of the city. It’s one of several connecting Chichester and Pagham Harbour with the South Downs National Park.
“Wildlife corridors are important for protecting biodiversity, particularly pollinators. They link areas of habitat that have been fragmented by human activity.
“The Wildlife Garden forms a vital link in this chain of habitat. It will benefit honeybees, bumblebees, butterflies, and bats, among other species.
“We’re proud to be supporting this project that will help to safeguard our district’s diverse wildlife. This is a key aim of our Strategic Wildlife Corridors project and Local Plan Review.”
