North Yorkshire construction company Houseman and Falshaw has won the contract to build a Regional Agricultural Centre for the north of England.

Houseman and Falshaw were appointed as the building contractors following a competitive tender.

Work begins next month (June) on the £5.1m project at the Great Yorkshire Showground in Harrogate. The development will see the creation of a suite of offices, a café and shop which will promote and sell regional produce. The Yorkshire Agricultural Society is the first agricultural society in the UK to develop such an initiative.

Heather Parry, the Society’s Deputy Chief Executive said: “We are absolutely delighted to announce Houseman & Falshaw as our appointed contractors as their tender showed a real commitment to create a top quality building which is architecturally innovative and environmentally cutting edge.”

Houseman and Falshaw managing director Stuart Falshaw said: “We have a long working relationship with the Yorkshire Agricultural Society and we extremely pleased to have been chosen for this fascinating and complex development which will include a variety of special features to make it sustainable and to minimise impact on the environment. It will be a state-of-the-art project for the organisation that leads the way in agriculture in Yorkshire.”

It is anticipated that construction will take about 11 months and, once the project is complete, the Society’s office staff will re-locate to the new building along with other not-for-profit rural organisations.

The building has been designed by P+HS Architects which has offices in Leeds and Stokesley.  With funding from Yorkshire Forward, many sustainable elements have been incorporated in the building to ensure the building has the minimum impact on the environment.   The building will be constructed from a timber frame, rainwater will be harvested and a ground source heat pump will heat the building, while solar thermal roof panels will heat a percentage of the hot water.  The farm shop and café will have a sedum roof and have a dry stone wall outer leaf. Sheep’s wool will be used as insulation in the offices.  Visual panels will be in place so that visitors can see the sustainable elements and understand how they work, to encourage more people to try and incorporate them.

For further information please contact Sara Lamper at Sara Lamper PR on 01423 701147.