An environmental education scheme has been run at Skelton Grange, near Stourton in south Leeds, since the 1990s.

For more than 10 years, its home was a portable classroom. Then, in the early 2000s, a determined effort was made to raise funds for a new home.

Together, the Lottery, National Grid, Biffaward, Green Leeds, WREN and Yorkshire Water, the Energy Savings Trust and Clearskies contributed more than £600,000 to an appeal by BTCV to finance the building of a showcase new environmental education centre.

LEDA won the architecture and environmental engineering contract in open competition.

Using innovative methods and materials, such as pre-wired recyclable timber panels, construction took just five months.

The Centre's innovative features include:

•  Solar panels on a south-facing roof that generates electricity for a heat pump that helps convert warmth from a high-voltage underground electricity distribution cable into underfloor heating;

•  A wind turbine that provides extra power;

•  Rainwater collection for low-flush toilets;

•  Insulation made from grass under the floor and in the roofspace;

•  Conservatories to provide extra space and insulation at the same time;

•  Lots of daylight to reduce the need for artificial light; and

•  Timber construction that can be easily recycled at the end of the building's life.

BTCV - an environmental educational charity specialising in conservation volunteering - aims to inspire people and improve places around the UK and abroad.

National Grid has been developing environmental education centres on its electricity substation sites since the late 1970s. Currently, six centres - run in partnership with education authorities and environmental charities - welcome more than 90,000 visitors each year.