In setting out to develop a building of low environmental impact within our budget, a huge amount of research, thinking and discussion has gone on.

Purpose

• We wanted the building to provide space for a good sized group of children or adults, that could be easily accessed and flexibly used by all visitors and which was welcoming and pleasing on the eye.

• We wanted the design to be sympathetic to the existing buildings (which now house National Trust offices and a staff flat), and not impose too much on the natural environment.

• In the longer term, at the end of the building’s natural life (some straw buildings are in use after more than 100 years), we wanted it to leave a very small impact. This will be partly achieved through the choice of construction materials, favouring those that will naturally biodegrade or can be recycled in the future.

Ecological Footprint

We also wanted the building to have a small ecological footprint in the present. As a concept, ecological footprinting is growing as a resource management and education tool. Simply put it approximates how much agricultural or ecologically productive land area it takes to sustain a person or a group, or in our case, a building. This is based on the use of energy, food, water, construction materials, lifestyles, transport choices and other consumables.

To achieve a small ecological footprint, the building materials need to be from sustainable, realistically renewable resources, or from recycled materials, so that the impact of construction in the present is reduced. To cut down on transport these need to be as locally sourced as possible.

We also recognised that our design needed to incorporate good use of natural light and have excellent insulation, thereby reducing electricity and heating needs when up and running.

Education

Because the building will be mainly used for education, we also wanted the construction process and the end result to be a learning project. In doing all this we wanted to inspire a positive emotional response towards the building and excite people about achievable, low environmental impact living.

Throughout the construction phase, as our decisions became reality, we recorded and assessed against our aims, so that the ecological footprint could be properly defined and the learning gained in the process shared.