Polar Bear Reserve at Jimmy’s Farm & Wildlife Park, Suffolk

Building a new low carbon home for a polar bear at Jimmy’s Farm & Wildlife Park

Jimmy’s Farm & Wildlife Park, located on the outskirts of Ipswich is home to 100 different species of animals, an adventure playground, woodland, café and shop. The farm and Wildlife Park has had extensive development since it was an old dairy farm 20 years ago, and is continuing to reach new heights, including the opening of Europe’s largest polar bear reserve on 21st October 2023. The new polar bear reserve required bespoke building materials that would align with the park’s overall objective of improving the planet for both human and animal inhabitants.

Ewa was due to arrive at the beginning of October 2023. Planning for the project started 12 months previously and resulted in the building of a secure area at Jimmy’s Farm, along with accommodation and bathing facilities. Three lakes were created up to 16 metres deep, to provide plenty of space for her to swim in. A purpose housing area was also constructed where Ewa could be cared for if she required any medical treatment. Two outdoor shelters were to be created, which would be dug into earth banks to provide cave-like surroundings for the polar bear to sleep in or take shelter from the elements.

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Building a world-class Tundra reserve

The polar bear at Jimmy’s Farm & Wildlife Park is a resident in its world-class Tundra reserve, which features grassy plains, natural spring lakes and a large area of woodland. The polar bear, named Ewa, was originally based in Sweden, and faced euthanasia due to its zoo shutting down, leading to Jimmy’s Farm & Wildlife Park stepping in and building a new reserve for the bear.

A Reserve was required that would be comfortable for the polar bear, and cater to its unique requirements, including shade, size, privacy, facilities and safety. The reserve was designed to include a concrete plunge pool, and enough space for them to wander around and seek privacy from the public should they require it.

Sadly, due to climate change, the natural habitat in Tundra is in decline, resulting in polar bears and other native species also suffering from a decline in numbers. It was therefore crucial in the building of the park’s Tundra reserve, that climate friendly methods and products were used to provide an example of how combating environmental change can go beyond typical construction applications such as housebuilding or large office buildings.

Poundfield Precast concrete manufacturing specialists and long-standing partners of Cemfree, were tasked with building the 1.5-1.8m high concrete plunge pool.

They approached Cemfree to help with providing sustainable, ultra-low carbon building products that would work in a pre-cast ring, ready for quick and easy installation straight on site.

Timescales for the project were impressive, with the pouring of Cemfree into pre-cast elements taking place in mid-September, and the subsequent delivery to the farm in late-September. This provided plenty of time for the enclosure to open in late-October.

Cemfree Rapid

Cemfree Rapid, an ultra-low carbon alternative to PC (Portland Cement) was used for the pre-cast walls of the plunge pool, with a total of 2.735m3 concrete poured.

Cemfree Optima

1 tonne of bagged Cemfree Optima, another ultra-low carbon alternative in the Cemfree binder range,, was used for the base of the plunge pool after being hand-mixed and poured on site.

Cemfree was used to save 1,500 kgs of CO2 building Europe’s Largest Polar Bear Reserve.