The new Neal's Yard headquarters building is set within a landscape of herb and flower cultivation on a 5 hectare greenfield site, located on the fringes Gillingham in Dorset. The key design aims were to create a humane working environment with a social heart, to provide visible evidence of the Neal’s Yard Remedies environmental agenda and to demonstrate a prototype timber industrial building appropriate to its rural setting. We provided full architectural services up to tender; the project team was then novated to a Design and Build contractor. 

CO2 emissions were reduced through high levels of insulation, natural ventilation and controlled daylight. Conservation of natural resources was also a priority, including investigations of on-site energy generation, water conservation, the collection of rainwater and the use of low embodied energy materials. The project was a successful test bed for the use of unfired clay bricks to add internal thermal mass; the building has a leakage rate of less than one fifth of the statutory requirements.