Getting right to the heart of Yorkshire

YORKSHIRE'S new 5.1m agricultural centre started out with a bold, but simple premise: "To create a year-round heart for food and farming in Yorkshire in a truly sustainable building."

Now, after a huge amount of work, the Yorkshire Agricultural Society's dream of constructing a new purpose-built home has become a reality following the complex's opening, last summer, at the Great Yorkshire Showground, in Harrogate.

Combining a shop, caf and suite of offices, architects have managed to incorporate a wealth of sustainable and environmentally-friendly measures into the design.

The main office block will both be a new home for the society and a hub for rural organisations, aiming to ensure improved communication and lower costs through shared facilities.

Standing alongside it is Fodder, a shop and caf selling the very best food and drink the region has to offer, and aiming to inject new life into the rural economy by supporting the region's farmers and producers.

Heather Parry, deputy chief executive of the Yorkshire Agricultural Society, said: "Fodder celebrates the very best of local food. We are very proud of the scheme and what it shows in sustainable building terms – so proud we actually have signs telling everybody who comes to it exactly what all the special features are.

"Fodder is the home of local food, and here you will get a flavour of everything from honey to rhubarb, bread, beer and cheese, and, of course, wonderful meat from around the county."

Ms Parry points out an impressive catalogue of sustainable features within the building's design, totalling 21 in all.

"The building is insulated with 1,500 sheep fleeces to try to give farmers a better price for this product," she said."The loo doors and vanity units are made from recycled plastic bottles. The open-plan offices are bathed in natural light. Fodder is heated from a ground-source heat pump and ventilated naturally. The building is made completely of timber, the carpet from rare-breed sheep, and all the furniture was made locally.

"The architect is from Yorkshire, the builders were from Yorkshire and everything else we've used, wherever possible, has come from Yorkshire as well."

Other key features include rainwater harvesting equipment and solar panels fitted to the sedum roof.

Even the very shape and position of the building has been considered – it is designed to follow the path of the sun to maximise natural daylight, with the width of the building being determined by how far natural light would reach inside.