This is an educational building for school children, academic botanists and society members. It contains three flexible teaching spaces and the Northern Library of the RHS. The site is at Harlow Carr Gardens which are internationally renowned and one of the most visited of the RHS gardens.
Since completion the building has won many awards, and has exceeded expectations in terms of its design quality, manifested in how a zero-energy, highly sustainable building can also be of a high architectural merit and integrate into a very sensitive garden setting.
"This building’s success stems from intensive early design studies and care throughout the design process to achieve a highly sustainable result without compromise to appearance or function."