The scheme,recently approved by North Herts Council, will create a purpose-built learning centre and facilities out of existing barn structures for client Weston Park Farms.
Located at Irongate Farm at Halls Green, north of Stevenage, the approved plans will see existing concrete barn structures retrofitted from storage and distribution uses to a non-commercial learning space.
When complete, the project will provide agricultural education to deliver the skills need to ‘help farming and food evolve’, planning documents say.
Upgrades to the current barns include repairs to frames, floor slabs and weatherboarding and replacement glazing will be installed. A mezzanine will be created at first-floor level of one of the barns.
Michael Collins Architects’ approved plans for Groundschool near Stevenage: existing barn
The barn will then be segregated to provide a flexible kitchen/teaching area, lecture/teaching space, a gallery, a commercial kitchen and spaces for an office, storage and toilets. Externally, a more ‘elegant and high-performance material’ will be used as cladding.
A lean-to will be demolished and replaced with a single-storey extension, while solar panels and plant will be installed on the roof, Michael Collins says.
The practice adds that the scheme would offer ground-source energy generation, growing spaces, a wholesale market and a flour mill.
The building will use materials low in embodied carbon, such as hemp insulation and cladding, along with passive design measures to boost energy efficiency.
A future timescale is not yet known.