Mottisfont opens new Welcome Centre featuring designs by Grant Associates

Mottisfont Abbey, a National Trust property in Hampshire, has opened a new Welcome Centre that is set within a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and features a landscape strategy by Grant Associates.

Located on the banks of a tributary of the river Test, the wood-built Centre is part of an environment that includes ancient trees and richly biodiverse meadows, which serve as a flood plain.

Grant Associates worked in close partnership with the Centre’s designer Burd Haward Architects to ensure that every aspect of the building and site fully responded to the importance of the site’s SSSI status and protected the function of the flood plain.

The £3.5m scheme was created in response to a rapid increase in visitor numbers to the 13th century priory and its gardens. The creation of a detailed landscape strategy, which demonstrated a sensitive response to the site’s delicate ecological and historic environment, was a key factor in securing planning for the new Welcome Centre.