From a car park to an outstanding provision

If you only look at one project on this page, make it this one. It began as a car park — flat, grey, unremarkable tarmac — and it is now a flourishing South American biome where visitors walk beneath banana blossom and children stop mid-sentence to stare upwards.

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The transformation demanded ambition and patience in equal measure. Existing hard-standing had to be assessed, drained and reworked. Climate strategy, ventilation, irrigation and lighting were designed around the planting scheme, and the planting scheme was designed around the animals. Mixed-species compatibility was mapped in detail so that birds, mammals and invertebrates could share the space comfortably, each with its own resources and escape routes.

What emerged is an authentic slice of the Neotropics: humid, layered, noisy with life, and enormously enriching for the animals living within it. Behaviour is more natural, activity budgets look healthier, and visitors linger far longer than they would at a conventional exhibit.

There is a strong sustainability argument, too. Reusing an existing footprint avoided new ground take entirely, turning a low-value surface into the estate's most valuable asset.

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We include this project because it answers the question clients most often ask us quietly: could our site really support something like that? Very frequently, the answer is yes. Constraints that look fatal on paper — awkward levels, poor ground, limited space, tight budgets — are usually design problems rather than dead ends.

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Tell us what you are working with. We would relish the challenge.