Architect selected
Grimsby architect grabs green building commission
Ecology Building Society is pleased to announce the appointment of Grimsby-based architect Hodson Design to create their new head office building in Silsden, West Yorkshire. The Society only lends on properties that have a reduced environmental impact and is therefore seeking an 'Eco-HQ' to match its green principles.
"In our unique lending policies we advocate the use of natural, low impact materials such as timber, recycled stone and waste paper based insulation", says Ecology Chairman Gus Smith. "We also encourage environmental features such as passive solar gain, heavy mass, greywater recycling and natural ventilation."
The new building has to be practical, attractive, comfortable and cost-effective. "We want to showcase our principles", stresses Ecology chief executive Paul Ellis, "and we want other organisations to follow our lead with their own office buildings. Any green solutions employed, therefore, have to be affordable."
Hodson Design were appointed after a careful selection process involving extensive desk research, invitations to thirty firms to submit details of their environmental work and then interviews with six short-listed candidates. Pam Parkinson, a non-executive Director of the Ecology and herself a green architect, played a key role in the process.
Mark Hodson, a partner at Hodson Design, is delighted to have been appointed. "It is always our policy to work closely with the client to provide an appropriate and sustainable design which not only responds to the demands of the brief, but which exploits the specialness of each site and context." The team at Hodson Design are working hard to produce a proto-type model for display to Ecology members at their AGM on Saturday 28 April.
