Riding School for the Disabled (RDA)
Working on behalf of the lead designers, Rowbotham Architects and main contractor Greswolde Construction, Encon Associates provided various services including, transport assessment, landscape design, tree survey and ecological appraisal for the £3.7m flagship National Training Centre.
The new Centre at Lowlands Farm, Shrewley, provides an important focal point for the charity, which offers therapy through horses to disabled children and adults all over the UK.
The new Centre is used for training hundreds of volunteers and provides commercial riding lessons and venue hire opportunities, as well as RDA sessions for disabled clients.
The Solution
The development includes the demolition of a collection of old building and the renovation of existing equestrian facilities on site including the creation of a new building with office space and training rooms.
The initial ecological appraisal of the site revealed the need to carry out further surveys to establish if the land was being used by Great Crested Newts (GCN) and old building by bats. Following further surveys, including an GCN survey, we were able to confirm the land was free of protected species and planning consent was granted by the local authority to enable the new facility to proceed.
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Client Greswolde Construction
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Location Shrewley, Warwickshire
Contribution to Planning Consent
Extensive protected species surveys to confirm the absence of newts and bats. Protected the existing trees on site to comply with British Standard 5837:2012. Achieve discharge of planning condition to provide a landscaping scheme.
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We recently renovated a large early Edwardian home. Part of the planning approval was the need to obtain an excellent rating from BREEAM in our renovation. This covered everything from responsibly sourcing materials to energy efficient heat pumps and solar panels. Not being a developer the whole BREEAM process was very difficult to understand at first. Luckily we had Encon, and in particular, Glenn on our side. They provided invaluable advice and guidance, were reachable all the time and processed everything in a very timely manner. What was important was that we were able to seek their advice and counsel before we made key purchasing decisions. BREEAM is a complicated process and can seem overwhelming if unfamiliar with it. Having Encon on board with us had helped us achieve our goals of having an environmentally excellent renovation of a 1905 house.
