The Kindersley Centre
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Entrance tower, with Kindersley Centre to right and farm offices to left
Adam Wilson Download Original
Sustainable conference centre in the heart of Berkshire that reworks the idea of the cruck-framed long barn
Sheepdrove Organic Farm, one of the largest organic farms in the UK, required a highly sustainable centre for the promotion of organic farming and biodiversity.
The Centre, located in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, includes conference, study and education spaces, a restaurant, shop, and new farm offices which have been arranged in a relatively formal sequence, with a symmetrical arrangement of wings edging a large square south facing courtyard.
Despite the building sitting low and sheltered on its site, it is naturally ventilated and makes use of sustainable materials with waste products bio-degraded in reed beds. The design reinterprets the concept of the long barn and utilizing innovative timber engineering.
The roof is clad with cedar shingles on a pitched structure consisting of four massive arched frames. The Kindersley Centre was the winner of Civic Trust Award as well as the Civic Trust Special Award for Sustainability.
Data
- Begun: Apr 2002
- Completed: 2003
- Sector: Civic
- Total cost: £2.6M
- Tender date: Sep 2001
- Procurement: JCT 98 With Quantities and Contractors Design
- Address: The Kindersley Centre, Sheepdrove Organic Farm, Lambourn, RG17 7UU, United Kingdom
Professional Team 
- Architect: Alec French Architects
- Project architect: David Mellor
- Client: The Kindersley Centre
- Main contractor: EW Beard
- Interior design: General Practice Design Consultants
- Structural engineer: Mark Lovell Design Engineers
- Energy Consultant: ESD
- M&E engineer: Halcrow Yolles
- Quantity surveyor: Gleeds
Suppliers
- Timber frame: Constructional Timber
- Bespoke joinery: Benchmark
- Ironmongery: Allgood
- Cedar Shingles: John Brash
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