The site for The Sustainable Retreat is located in Thongsbridge, a small village located in Kirklees, West Yorkshire. The area of site available for design is approximately 7000m². The project is a residential based project, taking the form of a hostel/hotel complex. There are two main components to this design, the first being the main accommodation complex, which contains the hostel accommodation areas in the main building, a reception building and the lounge/communal building. Then, as the user travels to the North of the site they transition into the pod complex, which contains 8 individual and unique pod designs. A particular focus with this project was individuality, with each pod design being unique and individual, responding to the varying surroundings and environment, based on its location and orientation on the site. Each pod can sleep two people and has all the necessary facilities required for comfortable living. In the main complex accommodation, rooms are shared between hostel users and there is a large kitchen and dining area for their use.

Rammed earth is used as the primary material in the design, with the wall component being constructed on site using significantly less energy than conventional construction methods, and using locally sourced materials, reducing the mileage involved in transportation. This is just one of the tools I have used to drive sustainability as a focus of design. An array of South facing solar thermal collectors on the South façade of the main complex also aid in this factor.