RIDBA Awards 2019 - 'General Agriculture & Storage' Award

Hinton Lodge's Workshop and Biomass building in Southwold, beat off competition from across the country to awarded with best 'General Agricultural & Storage' building of the year by the Rural and Industrial Design and Building Association (RIDBA).

The award ceremony was hosted by TV presenter Lucy Cooke.

The aim of the project was to produce a facility which provided for the needs of large modern agricultural and forestry machinery, but at the same time would site sympathetically within the landscape of this designated area of natural beauty.

The overall building is a combination of two seperate structures abutting each other. The lower level structure to the East of the site primarily houses the biomass plant and drying area which includes 2No. Hardwood Drive Over timber drying floors, Timber Tunnel Extension & 1No. Heat Exchanger and Coil along with extraction fans and necessary louvres. The higher level structure to the West of the site houses the workshop and storage space. In an effort to disguise the modern appearance of the concrete panels and plastisol coated black metal cladding, an open storage area was formed and clad with timber space boarding to give the appearance of a converted livestock building.

The judges praised the building for its interesting mix of materials used and environmental considerations.