Blueprint Epicentre

A Pin on the Map

The HEADTURNED story has always been about more than one field, one building, or one sanctuary. It is about proving that you can redesign how land, animals, food, energy and jobs all fit together – and then repeat that pattern again and again. To do that, we need a starting point; a real place on a real map.

Our intention is to build our first 5,000-acre blueprint epicentre in and around Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. This is not just convenience or familiarity; it is a deliberate choice. It sits close to major UK population centres while still being rich in countryside, layered with a deep industrial history and communities now ready for a different kind of work and relationship with land.

This is where HEADTURNED moves from vision into reality, habitats and livelihoods. When people ask, “Where will this be?”, this is where it begins.

Blueprint Epicentre

Why 5,000 Connected Acres?

We are often asked: “Why 5,000 acres? Why not a smaller site, or scattered parcels?” Because the problems we are trying to solve don't exist in isolation. Wildlife needs corridors, not postage stamps. Water systems do not respect fence lines. Soil health is shaped by everything happening upstream and next door.

A connected 5,000-acre landscape allows us to rebuild functioning ecosystems, not just pretty fragments. It lets us design land use as a whole, so Sanctuary, rewilding, regenerative food and innovation can support – not fight – each other. It also means we can measure impact properly: water quality, biodiversity, jobs, public health and training outcomes across a linked system, not a one-off project.

We would rather build one working, whole blueprint than scatter dozens of disconnected experiments that never add up.

Blueprint Epicentre

The Derbyshire–Nottinghamshire Epicentre

Our aim is for this epicentre to be as continuous as possible – one coherent geography instead of a patchwork of disconnected blocks. Within that landscape, we will weave together everything the HEADTURNED Foundation stands for, with conservation, biodiversity and rewilding as the golden thread running through every decision.

That means an Animal Sanctuary that treats rescue, rehabilitation and lifelong care as a standard, not a miracle. It means an Innovation Hub where engineers, technologists, designers and researchers build and test the tools we need for a different future. It means vertical farming and future food systems that reduce pressure on animals and wild land while improving public health.

Wrapped around and between all of this are Learning & Careers pathways, Media and storytelling that show the world what is happening here, and Sponsorship and partnerships that help fund and accelerate the work in a transparent way. This is not one building or one farm. It is a whole living campus, spread across fields, forests, rivers and restored land.

Blueprint Epicentre

Reconnecting People and Nature

The epicentre is not only about habitats and infrastructure. It is about the relationship between people and the land. Our intention is to create new kinds of work and learning that are rooted in regeneration rather than extraction, on the epicentre itself and through the projects, supply chains and services it supports.

That means opening up roles and pathways across ecology, animal care and land management, as well as engineering, construction, software, media, logistics and education. Some of this work will be place based on the 5,000-acre site. Other roles will sit with partners, local businesses, schools, colleges and remote teams that connect into the epicentre without needing to be there every day.

We will design this carefully, so growth does not simply mean more traffic and pressure on one area, but a shift towards cleaner, more meaningful work that fits within environmental limits. The epicentre should act as a training ground and reference point, a place people can visit, learn from and contribute to, not just read about from afar.

The Sanctuary may be the heart. The land may be the lungs. The Innovation Hub may be the workshop where new ideas are made real. But the epicentre as a whole is where people and nature start to move in the same direction again.

Blueprint Epicentre

The First Blueprint – Not the Last

This Derbyshire–Nottinghamshire epicentre is our starting point, not our end goal. If we get this right here, we can show what happens when you pair land restoration with vertical farming, when Sanctuary and Innovation sit side by side without compromising either, and when a local economy is re-tooled around conservation, food, energy, learning and media.

From there, we can begin to ask a different question: “If this works in one connected landscape, where else could it work?” That question leads us to the rest of the UK, and then to Europe and international locations where the demand, need and conditions are right.

This is Part 1 of our Blueprint Epicentre series – the where. In Part 2, we explore how all the pillars fit together on the ground. In Part 3, we look at how this epicentre can be adapted and repeated across the UK and beyond. The where is not just one dot on a map; it is the first chapter in a map that keeps unfolding.