Shortlisted at the Scottish Design Awards 2017 in the Future Building category, the project provides a new public-facing entrance to a nineteenth century building, as well as a new wing of flexible open plan office space and meeting accommodation.

Collaborating closely with the Highland Council through an extensive public planning process, Moxon said it has created a progressive design in a conservation area that ambitiously rethinks how the CNPA operates and interacts with its public. The new building serves to raise the profile of the CNPA while offering an environment designed to promote collaborative working practices and welcome visitors. It responds to its context with a structure of exposed cross laminated timber (CLT) clad in natural European Larch, which will weather over time, alongside pleated zinc and frameless glazing.

The design approach brings the new building elements to the fore, creating a highly legible new entrance and new wing for the facility. Collaboration, accessibility and the promotion of modern working practices were paramount to the design of the internal spaces, which now provide formal and informal meeting spaces as well as breakout zones while prioritising views of the historic town and landscape.

New building elements in effect extend the street around a corner, extrapolating the town grain and complementing existing massing. Traditional materials are deployed in a contemporary idiom to enhance the innate characteristics of the town. Carefully choreographed shifts between new and historic fabric allow the existing built heritage to remain clearly legible.

A sequence of simply articulated volumes and frameless glazing creates open plan spaces designed to allow the CNPA to operate more efficiently. Internal areas can be easily reconfigured with movable timber-clad screens that roll out to subdivide the space, offering flexible accommodation for a diverse range of functions including exhibition space and enhanced privacy workstations.

Moxon employed BIM in the design from the outset to maximise efficiency while minimising waste, informing the use of simple and often traditional materials that are combined with a modern approach and meticulous detailing.

The new building offers an environment designed to promote collaborative working practices and welcome visitors.

Adopting a sustainable approach, Moxon’s design addresses the requirements of the brief while looking ahead to future spatial needs to extend the function of the building beyond the typical lifecycle. Layout and orientation is organised to benefit from solar gain, while high levels of insulation and energy efficient windows minimise energy consumption. A range of sustainably sourced materials, wildlife boxes and an intensively planted roof are incorporated seamlessly into the design, ensuring that the special ecology of the site is enhanced by the new building.

Ben Addy, director at Moxon Architects, said: “Our guiding principle was to create an innovative addition to the CNPA’s historic headquarters, offering an inviting new public entrance and contemporary offices for staff. The contemporary massing finds a place within the townscape hierarchy suitable for a headquarters building, whilst the carefully selected materials will weather over time, setting the building into its context.”

Grant Moir, CEO at the CNPA, said: “We are delighted with the new extension to our offices, which has created a bright and flexible space for staff and visitors. We were desperately in need of more space and an improved working environment yet did not want to leave our current location in Grantown so having the estate agree to build an extension means we have been able to remain in the town.”