The project was to build a new indoor swimming pool and refurbish an existing hall for a secondary-age Special Educational Needs (SEN) Girls' School in Buckinghamshire immediately next to the Greenbelt. The brief was to provide a landmark building that would raise the profile of the school and provide facilities that could be used by staff, pupils, parents and the local community alike.

Leading building environment and engineering firm Skelly & Couch provided full mechanical, electrical, acoustic and co-ordination design services for the £2.5 million project, which was completed in 2014 and has received wide critical praise.

The captivating design, which features a striking, geometrically folded timber roof, incorporated a number of sustainable features, including high levels of natural light, heat pump water heating of the pool coupled with a heat reclaim ventilation system, excellent airtightness values, high levels of insulation, as well as efficient lighting and control. The new building has reduced the carbon consumption of the school's swimming provision by over 80%.

The Architects' Journal said the building 'provides delight' and 'enthrals its users'. It enthuses: 'The new structure abuts a restored pitched-roof sports pavilion and takes its roof from that, but magically folds and twists it to become a thing of great beauty: a timber grid shell propped delicately above the shimmering water.'

Alfriston Pool was the Structural Winner in the 2014 UK Wood Awards and was recently shortlisted for the British Construction Industry Building Project of the Year 2015 Award (value up to £10 million).