Center Parcs Woburn Forest wins at the MIPIM Awards

Center Parcs Woburn Forest, set in 362 acres of forest in Bedfordshire, has won the ‘Best Hotel and Tourism Resort’ at the MIPIM Awards 2015.

Holder Mathias, is the lead architect and designer behind the £95 million centre buildings (The Village Centre and The Plaza) at the heart of the £250 million Center Parcs project.

Having opened its doors in June 2014, Center Parcs Woburn Forest has a unique ‘Subtropical Swimming Paradise’ design, with a state-of-the-art Aqua Sana Spa, 625 lodges, a 75-bed hotel, six Spa Suites as well as 13 restaurants, shops and more than 100 leisure activities.

The winners were announced on Thursday 12 March at the international real estate show in Cannes. The awards recognise the most outstanding and accomplished projects around the world.  The ‘Best Hotel and Tourism Resort’ category honours the most innovative newly-constructed hotel in terms of architecture and interior design, while also considering client well-being, services provided to guests, leisure and recreational facilities and environmental aspects.

Each of the centre buildings have been designed to work with and enhance the forest from both internally and externally. Holder Mathias’s concept was to create an emotionally warm and tactile architectural environment that guests instinctively respond to, and to design memorable places that they can explore, relax in and enjoy. The Village Square and The Plaza had very complex operational design requirements that were articulated by Center Parcs and thoughtfully answered by the design team. Woburn Forest successfully uses more than 25 years of knowledge from Center Parcs relating to guest experience and care for the environment whilst embracing modern ideas and technologies.

Peter Gamble, Partner at Holder Mathias, said: "Center Parcs has been a wonderful client throughout this project. Together with our design team colleagues, we are really very privileged to have worked on buildings that give so much enjoyment to so many families."

MIPIM award winners are chosen in Cannes by a combination of the MIPIM delegates and the international jury, each group representing 50% of the final vote.