Delivering a Sustainable Bat Barn

A Bat Barn was built to provide a new habitat for multiple bat species including Brown long-eared bats. This provides mitigation for a bat roost that will be lost during redevelopment on the project. The design was developed alongside Surrey Wildlife Trusts ecologists to ensure the size, proportions and orientation would be appropriate.

The barn is surrounded by woodland, close to the original roost and where the bats forage and was design to generate minimal waste during construction and was manufactured off-site. It was pieced together and tiled on-site and is made of FSC/PEFC certified timber. The design includes many bat features such as small openings, bat boxes on external walls and tunnel tiles to provide additional access.

The barn was designed to be compliant with both Natural England and Local Planning requirements. The team came together to collaborate on a creative solution that would fit into the natural surroundings and to the development. It has also been designed to be safe from potential vandalism, whilst also still being accessible for ecologists. It was designed to produce minimal waste during its construction, and this is why it was chosen to be manufactured off-site.

On the project they have also constructed three much smaller bat towers, which have the same design style and roosting features which were also manufactured off-site.

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