This ecological conference venue is set in the six acre, ‘Pines Garden’ of St Margaret’s Bay in Kent. Nestled within a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty near the white cliffs of Dover, the garden was itself reclaimed from disused land in the 1970s. The building’s commercial function as a conference and training centre provides revenues to the owners, a local environmental Trust, to continue their work in preserving and enhancing the local environment and supporting community based initiatives. Alistair Gould reports.
This is a five page article. First published in Spring 2007
Extract:
This award winning earth-sheltered building has been designed to meet with the stringent benchmark of the AECB’s Gold standard for energy performance. Following its original conception in 2001 it was completed late last year and formally opened by Sir Crispin Tickell on 17th October.
The project demonstrates a successful fusion of historic construction techniques with 21st century technologies, design and analysis. The key features of the building include its earth-sheltered and curved design with all the main walls being constructed in rammed chalk (with the chalk being from the site). One of the most stunning features is the use of ‘timbrel-vaulting’ (also known as ‘Catalan vaulting’). This centuries’ old method of construction has been revived on this project, having lain dormant for effectively 80 years.
VAT applies to this product (UK only).
