The new building has a real sense of place sitting well in the landscape amongst the mature oak trees, with its timber cladding a reclaimed slate roof. The new art studio, which is also used for yoga is glazed around 3 sides with well insulated glazing panels, and allows guests to paint or meditate looking out onto the brook and beautiful wild flower garden. “We created a new building with a stunning studio space and moved the manager’s office out of the existing house allowing guests privacy and quiet (some of the retreats are silent for their duration). It also provides additional space when the centre is busy.” The timber frame is packed full with insulation and solar panels have been installed on the roof, which along with a wood burning stove provide the heating required. It was always the intention of the Trust to keep the energy usage of the building to a minimum, and the position of the building near to the Brook means that in the future power could also be produced using a small scale hydro-electric generator. One of the most important parts of the brief was to create a flexible building, which could change over time if required. The structural system with large timber trusses allows partition walls to be moved in the future if the needs and space requirements of the centre change. “Buildings need to be adaptable to meet future needs and requirements. Constructing new buildings uses a huge amount of energy and it seems only right that we should consider how they can be more easily ‘recycled’ and not just demolished and re-built”