We've gone all green!

Here at ARC we are proud to announce that our business is the first in the South East to be awarded with the STEM accreditation scheme and are delighted to hear that we’re already on the first level (blue award) of STEM before anyone in the South East. Our next aim is to rise to the challenge of achieving the silver award, this is where we will mainly work towards reducing our carbon footprint by taking certain actions identified in our environmental assessment programme.

In order to achieve this award we have been recycling all our recycleable office wastes; two staff members now cycle to and from work or work from home; we measure our carbon emissions from our offices, equipment and vehicles. In terms of production, use recycled materials such as FSC certified paper for publication printing, recycled timber for our signs and sculptural items and the printed graphics for them uses latex printing technology.

Being an eco-sufficient business is very important to us here at ARC as we are a heritage and environmental interpretation company we must act responsibly towards the environmental impact of our actions. We want to be a sustainable business and not waste money on paying for energy that is harming the environment. Not only is this accreditation saving us money, it’s encouraging others to follow in our footsteps and look forward to a brighter future for all of us.

Reculver

ARC are proud to announce the completion of the interpretive displays and signage for the Reculver Sustainability Centre. The new centre is now fully completed and open to the public. The new education room shown here with the sweet chestnut cladding is proving to be a great facility for local school groups.

Early history interpretation area

Mural with WWII history, wind farm info and 'Bigus Dickus' !

Education room

The team at ARC had a completely blank canvas with the new room and we got started with the murals which went right around the room, depicting the coastal erosion, World War II gun towers and Roman history. Once the base mural was complete the other painted features were created and fixed into position.

New shop area

The crab!

Meanwhile the rest of the team got stuck into the new shop area. All the timber used was locally sourced sweet chestnut from woods in Kent. We topped off the central section of the shop with our giant carved crab staring down menacingly at all the visitors. All the lettering had to be hand-carved and painted on-site and we felt it all added to the tactile aspect of the area.

Phil in full painting mode

Tom concentrating on a daisy

John and Jenny painting the coastal erosion area

The main room now houses all the new interpretation panels and interactive exhibits including a model of the bouncing bomb. This replica holds a screen inside showing archival film from the Imperial War Museum of the test runs made in the region by the bomber pilots. Further along we come to ‘Marcus’ the Roman legionnaire. We wanted to call him Bigus Dickus as we are all huge Monty Python fans here. His story is told using a wind-up audio unit mounted in his shield (and not in his nether regions as someone cheekily suggested).

Marcus the Legionnaire

Wind-up audio

Bouncing bomb movie

Outside work continued with the building of the new entrance signs. These were also in chestnut with stainless steel lettering.

The new entrance signs

Tom fitting lettering

Dragonflies

Our thanks to Ian Rickards from Kent Wildlife Trust for this shot , taken at Hothfield Heathlands reserve …are you sure this isn’t posed Ian?

Whitstable Castle

Saturday 4th September saw the unveiling of our latest work at Whitstable Castle. ARC produced a series of colourful interpretation panels as part of the project. Harry Hill was on hand to cut the ribbon, and Tom managed to grab a quick photo!