Have your say on the finest new designs in the Forest

THE finest and most innovative new buildings in the Forest will be rewarded for their design, and nominations are now open so you can have your say.

The national park authority rewards high quality design as part of its New Forest Building Design Awards, and this year has added a new category, the ‘best green building’, to mark the 70th anniversary of national parks and the government’s Year of Green Action initiative.

Now in their fifth year, the awards have recognised a new-build housing scheme in Lyndhurst, Brockenhurst College’s STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) centre, a traditional thatched cottage in Woodgreen and Lepe Country Park’s new visitor centre and café (pictured).

Gordon Bailey, deputy chairman of the NPA’s planning committee, said: “We work with planning applicants to conserve and enhance the New Forest’s built environment because it helps to make the national park such a special place.

“Through our planning policies and the detailed design guidance, we’re constantly looking to improve the quality of building design in the national park.

“These awards support that process, so we hope to receive many nominations from local residents, visitors, developers and parish councils.”

Around 900 planning applications are submitted in the national park each year, with 85% approved.

Nominations can be made by anyone living in or visiting the district’s national park and must be for a high-standard design completed in the last three years.

Among the categories are ‘best residential scheme’ and ‘best non-residential’ – for which industrial units, boat sheds, outbuildings are eligible. There is also a ‘best conservation project’ and ‘best green building’ that showcases sustainable materials.

Nominations are open until 31st December 2019 and the winners will be chosen in the New Year by a panel drawn from the NPA planning committee. They can be submitted via www.newforestnpa.gov.uk/buildingawards