The Yorkshire Agricultural Society’s £5.1m project includes a regional food shop, café and suite of offices, forming a Regional Agricultural Centre for the north of England.

The development, designed by P+HS Architects, is being built by North Yorkshire construction company Houseman and Falshaw and has a range of special features to make it sustainable and minimise the impact on the environment.

The timber frame is made from Douglas fir and glulam timber and will use in the region of 75 tonnes of wood, equivalent to approximately 100 trees, all from renewable sources.

Other sustainable features specified by the Yorkshire Agricultural Society include a ground source heat recovery system for heating the offices and shop, rainwater harvesting to provide recycled water for flushing toilets, solar thermal roof panels for hot water and sheep’s wool insulation in the building walls.

The shop and café will have a sedum grass roof and drystone outer wall. When the building is completed in May, it will have a live information display screen linked to the electronic building management system which will give constant displays of information relating to the energy-saving elements of the building.

Houseman and Falshaw contract director Clive Mitchell said: “The site of the new Regional Agricultural Centre was formerly a rail halt and has required a great deal of preparation, including the excavation and recycling of 5,000 tonnes of material from the site.

“We have also laid 1,000m of drainage, installed the foundations and completed the test bore hole for the ground source heat recovery system to confirm the level of heat recovery we can expect from the ground.

“This then enables the design of the heat recovery system to be finalised. The completion of the timber frame is, however, the first element of the development which will be visible to visitors to the showground.”

The Yorkshire Agricultural Society’s deputy chief executive, Heather Parry, said: “It is exciting to see the timber frame rising out of the ground and fascinating to see what can be achieved using a natural resource.

“We hope others will be inspired by what is being achieved in this cutting-edge building.”

Regional Development Agency Yorkshire Forward is supporting the build as part of its drive to encourage sustainable construction in the region.