A welcome break

Gloucester Gateway Services

Gloucester, UK

The Gloucester Gateway takes motorway service station design in a new direction. Situated on the M5 between Stroud and Gloucester, these services are based around the concept of sustainability. Built from natural materials, they serve home cooked food, sell local produce, and there isn’t a franchise in sight.

Over the next 20 years, the services will provide a warm welcome to millions of visitors passing through, and generate £10 million for the local economy

Westmorland Ltd joined forces with the Gloucester Gateway Trust to create a business that provides a sustainable income for the surrounding community

We delivered high quality, environmentally efficient designs that enhanced this ethos

Challenge

Constructing a 60,000m² motorway service area on either side of the busy M5 is challenge enough, but the complexity of Buro Happold’s role was increased by our client’s brief for the vast structures to blend seamlessly with the surrounding landscape.

Solution

We worked closely with the architect to develop a form and arrangement for the buildings that felt organic within the countryside. This began with devising foundations that would compensate for the uneven topography of the site, and allow the services to nestle neatly within a nook among the hills.

The structures are made primarily from timber, a material that has low environmental impact and creates a warm internal environment. This glow is echoed by the external walls, which are clad in the local golden Cotswold stone, extending a warm welcome to customers that radiates from the inside out. Each building is topped with a green roof, completing its visual integration with the landscape and creating habitat for wildlife.

Value

It took great engineering ingenuity to deliver the vision for unobtrusive, natural-looking buildings that showcase and celebrate the sustainable ethos at the heart of this project. The result is a masterclass in low energy, high quality architecture and engineering, which offers a clear route toward more thoughtful and sustainable motorway services provision.