Earth Lab and Innovation Hub
Oct 15, 2025
In early 2020, we announced we’d secured £1million from the government’s Local Growth Fund to enable the environmental charity, ‘Earth Trust’ to commence a project demonstrating sustainable construction, environmental education and supporting environmentally aware businesses through leading by example.
Earth Trust’s ambition was to create a new Gateway to the wonderful landscape of South Oxfordshire, the Wittenham Clumps and the much-loved nature-rich green spaces it cares for. The Local Growth Fund allocation made Phase One possible – Earth Trust’s ‘Earth Lab’ and ‘Innovation Hub’.
What now stands on the site are two stunningly innovative pieces of architecture and ecological design: the Earth Lab – complete with a full-depth springtime blooming wildflower roof – is a construction comprised of a timber frame, straw insulation panels, a rammed earth wall (using soil from the location); the Innovation Hub a former barn now being utilised as multi-use business units for sustainability-conscious businesses.
Completed in 2021, the site is now fully established and embedded within its surroundings, with the Earth Lab providing flexible classroom space used to deliver science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) and outdoor environmental education for young people. As a result, this has doubled Earth Trust’s opportunity to bring environmental science to life across the curriculum.
Since 2021, the project has created the space for 10,000 individuals to attend events in the last year alone, secured long-term agreement for office hire space, as well as creating a Welcome Hub with coffee stop within the Innovation Hub and securing significant new funding to deliver projects out of Earth Lab.
Earth Lab is the busiest it has ever been – with 4,000 children from 90 schools visiting during 2024, the project continues to inspire the next generation to understand and care for their environment. The project acts as a vital component in Earth Trust’s mission to champion access and engagement with natural green spaces for everyone, to ‘take action for people and planet’.
For 40 years the environmental charity has been providing and championing accessible natural green space and running inspiring, award-winning programmes to help people connect with nature and the environment – and as a result of this project, it is poised to do more.
In total, Enterprise Oxfordshire (formerly – and at the time – OxLEP) secured £1.49m of funding for the project via the government’s Local Growth Fund, after an additional £490k was approved for the Earth Lab to enable works to add to the sustainability of the project – with the overall cost of the project falling at £2.9m.