Birds eye view of Heartlands

Heartlands recently used a crane to survey Robinson's Shaft head frame, which is at the centre of the Heartlands site. We thought it would be a good idea to take some aerial photos to show the extent of the project from above and the developments so far.

The photo above shows the view looking down on to the head frame. The head frame at Robinson's Shaft will be incorporated in to the exhibition at Heartlands.

The photo below shows the winding house, this building will also be part of the exhibition.

The above photo shows the carpenters shed to the left, which will be converted in to a cafe and restaurant. The building in the centre of the photo is the old Compressor House which will contain the biomass boiler, a key part in Heartlands aim to become zero carbon.

Above shows the view to the east of the site. The market square will be surrounded by the new buildings which include artist studios, office space, apartments and a community building.


Diaspora gardens with planting from around the world will be located to the bottom left of the above photograph, with a play area, events arena and open lawn occupying the remainder of the space.

Mine is Yours

Heartlands has teamed up with local artist Laura Smith and Aune Head Arts to work on the Mine is Yours project. Laura Smith worked with the local community surrounding Heartlands to research stories from the area and also looking at the mining history in Pool.

Pool Business and Enterprise College students recorded the stories that were collected from local people, miners and their families. Laura's work with Heartlands has been documented on the following website:
Mine is Yours

Cornwall College students help capture Heartlands in pictures

Every stage of Heartlands' development is being documented on camera by students from Cornwall College, Camborne.

The photography students will be making regular visits to the site to document each stage in the £35million project. Before work officially gets underway, the students have been busy capturing the site, documenting and archiving the historic buildings before the site is cleared and prepared in preparation for building work in the summer this year.

The pictures will be an inspirational resource not only for artists and designers working at Heartlands, but also for the community, including educational and community organisations. Heartlands social archive has been created to raise awareness about Cornwall's cultural heritage, as well as recognising and celebrating its achievements and aims to offer insight through learning from the material culture of this historic World Heritage Gateway.

The Cornwall College students that are photographing the site are studying for the Foundation degree in Animation and Foundation degree in Multimedia Design. Stephen Howard, Head of Multi Media and Animation at Cornwall College said "We are delighted to be able to work with Heartlands, the students are enjoying being involved in an exciting live project right on their door step and gaining valuable work experience too".

Lost Words Found Objects Blog

Heartlands have been working with Pool Business and Enterprise College and artist Ben Cook on the Lost Words Found Objects project. Click here to keep up to date with all the Lost Words Found Objects news.

New artist impressions of Heartlands

Aerial impression of the Heartlands site. The sketch also shows future developments in Pool that will surround Heartlands, (shown by the faded areas).

The centre of Pool is also included in the Heartlands developments.


The market square will be sheltered by the existing mine buildings and new builds - community building, artists studios, offices and apartments.

Robinson's Shaft is at the hub of Heartlands. The derelict tin mine will be transformed in to an interpretation centre to celebrate Heartlands World Heritage Site gateway status.

Local residents walking from Pool centre will first reach the Chy an Bobel (community building) which frames Robinson's Shaft in the distance.

Local student councils unite at Heartlands

Student council groups from Pool, Camborne and Redruth secondary schools have joined forces to keep an eye on the progress of Heartlands.

The students were introduced to the project by having a guided tour of the site. Pool Business and Enterprise College, Redruth Technology College and Camborne Science and Community College are located within a short distance of the Heartlands project, therefore are keen to get to grips with the project and relay information on the scheme to their fellow students. In the future we hope that the student council can guide us on how they might use Heartlands when it is open.

Heartlands in the snow!

Taken Wednesday 6th January 2010