The £5.3m Sherwood Forest Visitor Centre was officially opened in October 2018. The curved, twisted form, created by staggered roof beams, reflects the forest environment and the “Trees that sheltered him” concept of Robin Hood.

The clients for the project were an RSPB-led consortium, which included the RSPB, the Sherwood Forest Trust, The Woodland Trust and Thoresby Estate working together with Nottinghamshire County Council. The practice had been selected as architects for the project following previous projects for the RSPB, most prominently at the award-winning Saltholme Wildlife Reserve and Discovery Park Visitor Centre in 2009.

JDDK Principal Architect, Alison Thornton-Sykes, commented, “The linear format will pull visitors through the initial welcoming area for visitors into the main building with retail and recreation facilities to wilderness zones to give visitors a real sense of the ancient forest environment. They then exit the Centre down through a 5m level change into the double height café space and out to the exterior amphitheatre sheltered by the overhanging canopy, an integral part of the roof.”