This project proposes the design and intergenerational maintenance of a Forest School in Northwich, Cheshire, in response to The Mersey Forest Plan. Forest School is defined by the Forest Education Network in England as “an inspirational process that offers children, young people, and adults regular opportunities to achieve and develop confidence and self-esteem through hands-on learning in a woodland environment.” (Forest Education Initiative, 2005)

A site near an educational hub is selected, which can serve to enhance the existing educational programs of nearby students of different ages. The design proposes transforming the existing brownfield into a mature forest park for a permanent forest school. A series of learning landscapes hope to serve as a self-supplement for the Forest School construction while enhancing biodiversity and establishing connections among green corridors along the River Weaver.

The first step is zoning and planting the forest according to the needs of the Forest School learning activities. The whole planting process will be completed with a coppicing system and renewed every 20 years. Some small-scale design elements are designed to support exploration and navigation in the natural area. Designed human-made structures will be placed at peripheral or less sensitive areas, and different pathways are designed to manage access in the short and long term.

This Forest School can provide a kind of dynamic long-term outdoor learning landscape for the surrounding educational institutions and it can also serve as a model to be adapted elsewhere.