Two timber construction projects by Swindon-based contractor EW Beard have won national awards.
The £3.6m Kindersley Centre, featuring oak, Douglas fir and cedar, was one of just 19 winners from 364 entries in the Civic Trust‘s 2005 environmental design awards, while the restoration of a 200-year-old timber granary scooped two prizes in the Royal Institute of British Architects’s (RIBA) 2005 Awards.
The Kindersley Centre, situated on a 2,250 acre farm in Lambourne, Berkshire, includes a soaring Oak Room with 9m high Douglas fir arches, solid oak flooring supplied by Aylesbury-based Osmo UK and a spruce ply ceiling. Outside, the walls and roof are clad with cedar boarding and shingles.
The building, which was also shortlisted in the 2004 Wood Awards, provides meeting and study spaces on two floors, plus an eco-friendly shop, organic kitchen, dining room and farm offices. Alec French Architects of Bristol designed the structure.
EW Beard’s conversion of a timber granary into an office near Wallingford also resulted in two RIBA prizes, including a rare conservation award, for the project’s architects Spratley & Woodfield.
The conversion, part of a £1.84m project, involved the temporary removal of the granary timber frame to facilitate repairs and spraying of timbers before being craned back into position.