Working with Alan Newton Associates, Derbyshire, we have provided the technical input on Himalaya, a flagship £7 million visitor centre at Twycross Zoo.

Himalaya brings a new 300-seat restaurant looking out onto a Himalayan Mountain scene with resident snow leopards. A new retail space and a function room for conferences and events overlooks a naturalistic wetland aviary with wading birds.

Incorporating ground source heating and having a high thermal mass along with a living roof and a BREEAM rating of excellent, this is the first building for the zoo in the 21st Century looking towards low and ultimately zero carbon construction.

Himalaya opened to the public in Easter 2010.