Delivering significant community & ecological benefits in a protected landscape

Rural Solutions supported a private client in Berkshire in realising their vision for a purpose-built eco-education and research centre, created on the site of a former pig barn.

The client had already regenerated the surrounding land, transitioning it from agriculture to a wildlife habitat, with extensive hedgerow planting and ecological monitoring programmes in place. The new centre was designed to complement this work, providing space for research, education, and community engagement.

The team at Rural Solutions secured planning permission for a new build in a National Landscape, a complex process that required a landscape-led approach with a robust planning strategy. By combining our in-house expertise, we secured planning permission and designed a building that not only met the client’s needs but also delivered significant environmental and educational benefits.

Objective

The client’s aim was to develop a bespoke centre that would support their conservation work, enabling ecological research. They also wanted a space where researchers could stay for short periods, where children, schools, and environmental groups could also learn about biodiversity, and where charitable organisations could engage with restoration projects.

The building needed to be functional, sustainable, and sympathetic to the rural landscape while providing a lasting base for the client’s long-term commitment to environmental stewardship.

Approach

The project’s success relied on careful navigation of the planning complexities associated with building in a protected National Landscape. We began by securing permission under permitted development rights to change the use of the existing agricultural building, establishing precedent for a non-agricultural use on the site. This laid the foundation for a full planning application for a new purpose-built eco centre.

Our cross-disciplinary team at Rural Solutions delivered planning consultancy, architecture, and landscape design, taking a landscape-led approach to ensure the building integrated sensitively into its surroundings.

The design incorporated classroom space, exhibition areas, and accommodation for visiting researchers. Our planning case demonstrated that the enhanced educational and ecological benefits justified a new build solution beyond the original agricultural footprint, resulting in meeting both the client’s ambitions and the strict requirements of the local authority.

Planning permission was granted in February 2025, just under two years after our first site visit. The Eco Centre will provide a lasting hub for conservation research and education, strengthening biodiversity initiatives and offering a unique UK-based facility for moth and butterfly monitoring, ecological study, and environmental learning.

The project demonstrates how innovative rural diversification, when sensitively designed and robustly planned, can deliver significant community and ecological benefits in a protected landscape.