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 |  | The National Farmers Union has confirmed its intention of moving from London to Warwickshire by submitting a planning application for its new HQ.
The move underlines the importance of Warwickshire and, in particular, that of Stoneleigh Park, to agriculture in the UK.
Already the home of the Royal Agricultural Society of England and events like the Royal Show and the Town and Country Festival, Stoneleigh Park is now at the heart of British Farming.
If approved, the two-storey, crescent-shaped building will provide 25,000 sq ft net of office space to house more than 100 staff and has been designed to suit its rural setting with sympathetic materials.
It will contain meeting rooms, a library, an officeholder suite, and a gallery area and will have landscaped gardens.
It is being designed to reduce energy usage and will achieve high environmental standards, making use of renewable raw materials.
Architects SMC Corstorphine and Wright have been employed to design the building with a planning application sent to Warwickshire County Council in December.
| Ìý |  | The Royal Show at Stoneleigh Park
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The NFU announced its intention to move its HQ from its current London home to Warwickshire as part of a review of the organisation published in July 2003. The move will take place in the summer of 2005.
Roger Ward, the NFU director in charge of the move to Warwickshire, said: "This will be a state of the art prestigious development which will provide a home for our staff and a meeting centre for our farmer members to enable us to meet their needs into the 21st century."
ÌýThe NFU hopes the new building will provide a cornerstone to the new-look Stoneleigh Park, formerly the National Agricultural Centre.
The massive centre will be home to a new business and innovation park, part of the creation of a mult-million pound centre of excellence for food, farming and the countryside.
| Ìý |  | The Town and Country Festival in Stoneleigh
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"We are delighted to welcome the NFU to Stoneleigh Park as part of the first stage in delivering our vision for a national rural centre that is accessible for all, and showcases the industry on an international platform," said Mike Calvert, Chief Executive of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, owners of Stoneleigh Park.
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