Our operations

Community investment

As part of our investment in renewables, we have focused our community involvement on education. As part of this commitment, we supported the redevelopment of the visitor centre at Gibraltar Point National Nature Reserve. The reserve, which stretches from the southern edge of Skegness to the entrance to The Wash, attracts around 180,000 visitors each year.

Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust (LWT), which manages the reserve, has a strong commitment to learning, hosting educational and field study visits by thousands of children each year.

Centrica has made a significant financial contribution, supported other funding applications to raise more income and committed additional management time to the redevelopment. Following the improvements the centre was officially re-opened in October 2006.

Visitors to the refurbished centre can also learn more about Centrica’s wind farm projects and follow their development.

It is expected the improvements will help boost visitor numbers to the Lincolnshire coast and help to extend the tourism season as well as raising additional income for the Trust. Details about LWT can be found at www.lincstrust.org.uk and information about the recent work at Gibraltar Point can be found in the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust press release in the useful downloads section.

Centrica is now working with the centre on a further project to protect valuable bird census data captured daily at Gibraltar Point since 1949 and currently kept on paper logs.

To protect those unique records Centrica is funding work to transfer the data into an electronic database, making it much more accessible to all and capable of much wider assessment and use.

The data will be used as part of national and pan European research projects in conjunction with data from other observatories. Over the years there has been a demand for such credible data to contribute to environmental impact assessments.

Onshore construction

Raising awareness prior to the start of our onshore works was important to help overcome any potential concerns and to help plan the work to minimise any inconvenience. We set up an exhibition at a local school to explain the work and to introduce the contractors who would be responsible. We also gave presentations to all the students there. To thank the residents of Winthorpe for their co-operation during the cable works, Centrica helped the local residents' association to complete the development of their community centre on Roman Bank, funding the installation of a heating and hot water system.

Centrica is now working with Inspiring Outdoors, which is run by a local teacher Kim Hudson. Kim has visited local schools to explain the development of the offshore wind farms to students, and has developed worksheets and workshops for Skegness schools to help give students experience of renewable energy and sustainability.