Our performance stage is a great place to watch music, see a play or join in with family activities
It’s also a great example of sustainable development. It’s been made using Welsh materials and traditional Welsh building techniques, and largely designed & built by young people.
- Main floor finishes and step treads: Pennant Stone from the local Gwrhyd stone quarry which has recently been acquired by Marshalls.
- Step risers: Reclaimed stone, probably Pennant, from demolished buildings found in the grounds of the Garden. Some of this might have come from the original Middleton Hall.
- Stone Bases: Sourced from the Black Mountain Quarries – cut and delivered by GJ Williams Ltd
- Timber: Green Oak, supplied by Lon Isaf Hardwoods on the Gower, Coed Dinefwr timber design construction, Carmarthen who also supplied Douglas Fir, and Whiney Sawmill, Whitney on Wye, Hereford. The wood comes from a variety of locations in South / mid Wales including: Hendre Woods, Rockfield, Monmouth.
- The slate comes from Welsh quarries
Who built it?
Much of it was by done by students from Coleg Sir Gâr and The Prince of Wales Building Craft Apprentice Scheme – young stonemasons, bricklayers, roofers and carpenters. A young blacksmith made the pineapple on top.
Who designed it?
Twenty seven Prince’s Foundation for the Built Environment 2010 Summer School students from Britain, Europe, Africa, South Asia & North America spent 2 weeks together in South Wales, learning about sustainable building practices, Welsh architecture and traditional construction techniques.
They then came to the Garden for a week, producing designs for nine potential different buildings here. This performance stage was chosen as the best of these designs by an audience made up of Garden staff, volunteers, Prince’s Foundation students and supervisors, and members of the local community.