The design brings a massing and materiality which deliberately reference the agricultural genesis of the Sutton Bonington campus, its rural location, and the programme of veterinary training which the new buildings are to accommodate. The programmatic requirements are clearly split into three principal elements: fully-serviced veterinary practice accommodation for small animals, general teaching accommodation, and agricultural facilities for large livestock. The design provides two separate buildings on the site: a formal academic facility to accommodate the veterinary practical and teaching spaces, and a separate barn structure to accommodate the activities associated with larger animals.

The Academic Building

The massing adopts a double-gable section which provides a striking silhouette to the main entrance, and follows the structural logic of the internal framing. The pitched roof elements also allow the principal reception spaces to open up to the underside of the roof structure, providing generous and visually interesting volume.

New Barn Structure

The new barn structure replicates the steel-framed timber-clad construction already on site. It is constructed to a predominantly agricultural-specification, with open cladding to provide permanent ventilation.

A key objective of the brief for the Mock Veterinary Practice project is to reduce the consumption of finite resources throughout the construction and life of the project, and to reduce emissions to their practical minimum. Strategic objectives are as follows:

• Design and specification to achieve a BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating
• Elimination of fossil fuel sources of energy
• Alignment with the RIBA 2030 Challenge targets for operational and embodied carbon
• Working towards lifetime net-zero carbon
• Maximising the use of timber in construction, to reduce embodied carbon