The underground Victorian reservoir bursting back to life as a pioneering space centre

An underground Victorian reservoir left abandoned for 40 years is about to burst back into life thanks to a project first started by a group of Nottinghamshire ex-miners. The site was first built in response to a mass cholera outbreak way back in 1886 but after becoming redundant as a source of clean water, the brick structure was left dormant for decades.

Nearly 140 years on from first being built, around 20,000 visitors a year are now expected to wander through the underground reservoir following a multi-million pound restoration. The project has seen a pioneering planetarium being built on top of the reservoir, based on Coxmoor Road in Sutton-in-Ashfield.

The main feature of the new Planetarium and Science Discovery Centre is a 59-seater room where visitors will be able to watch 4K digital images of space on a 10 metre screen surrounding a dome-shaped structure. The reservoir itself has been transformed into an exhibition space, with the vast majority of its original structure remaining a key part of the new centre.

Ahead of the official opening on Monday (November 25), Nottinghamshire Live was given a tour of the brand new facility. "I know that I'll never work on anything like this again in my career," says Stephen Spiegelhalter, who has been the project manager on behalf of G F Tomlinson.

"This all began with a group of ex-miners who came together with a dream to open an observatory, which is an amazing thing in itself." An advert was placed in the local paper in 1969 asking for people who had an interest in astronomy to come forward.

A small group eventually formed with a dream to open an observatory in Nottinghamshire. Having purchased land from Coxmoor Golf Club, ground was finally broken in 1972 and the Sherwood Observatory opened to members from 1986.

The observatory building features a huge Newtonian telescope and membership steadily grew over the decades. The Mansfield & Sutton Astronomical Society eventually set its sights on land next door housing the abandoned underground reservoir, eventually purchasing the site in 2014.

Funding to turn the site into a planetarium trickled in over the years, with the most significant contributions being a combined £5 million from bids to government that the society worked on with Ashfield District Council. Work was therefore able to get underway in August 2023 and despite the challenges inherent in transforming an abandoned Victorian building, the project is being delivered on time and on budget.

"We lost about five weeks worth of progress due to the weather at one stage", says Mr Spiegelhalter. "But we've worked weekends and overtime to catch up and so we're still going to be delivering the project on time."

Leading on the project from the Mansfield & Sutton Astronomical Society has been Dr Steve Wallace. Looking around the completed site, Dr Wallace said: "This is a testament to the dedication of all our volunteers. I'm only a volunteer myself, but something like this really sucks you in and I've ended up working full-time on it.

"This is going to be really unique because we have the existing observatory and then we'll have the planetarium next door, so people will be able to see images of space on the big screen and then come next door and see the night sky with the naked eye. I don't think anywhere else in the country has that."

The digital images projected on the giant planetarium screen will be created using data from agencies including NASA, with the software provided by the French-based firm RSA Cosmos. As well as being able to pop next door to the observatory to see space with the naked eye, the view from that telescope can also be broadcast live onto the planetarium's screen.

"Just imagine what it is going to be like for children watching images of a 3D environment in space on a screen in 4K", says Mr Spiegelhalter. Between the opening day and Christmas, 50 screenings have already been scheduled and prices will be £7.50 for an adult and £6 for a child.

Two people are already employed by the planetarium, one of whom previously worked at the National Space Centre, and the number of employees could grow next year. The observatory itself currently gets around 3,000 visitors a year but once the planetarium opens, it is thought that the whole site could end up welcoming 20,000 visitors annually.

Providing opportunities for the local community has been a key theme of the planetarium project and the centre will also feature a café run by the Academy Transformation Trust Further Education College. Dr Wallace, who joined the Sherwood Observatory in 2016, says the key hope for the project is that it will inspire the next generation to go into careers in science, engineering and mathematics.

The astronomical society member says he recently heard a story of a woman who visited the Sherwood Observatory as a young girl on a trip with the Brownies. So inspired by the trip, the woman has just started a degree in astrophysics. Dr Wallace added: "We've got the evidence that what we're already doing has inspired young people and the planetarium is only going to accelerate that."