Construction began in 2007 and the centre reopened its doors in July 2008.
The new development incorporates the existing National Park Visitor Centre, built in 1999, and provides a much larger complex containing two new landscape galleries.
A tremendous amount of groundwork was required to prepare the new site, with the positioning of the underground galleries and the complex stone feature work requiring particularly close attention.
During construction, every effort was made to reduce the amount of waste created on site. The earth removed from the site to make room for the galleries was, for example, stored at a nearby farm and used later to cover the gallery roof.
The £3 million crescent-shaped building was designed by Smith Roberts Associates and is built of local building materials where possible. It has a curved roof supported by dramatic columns at the front of the building and a large spine wall to the rear. If you were to look from above at the surrounding walls, you would see that they have been designed to echo the gentle ripples made by a pebble as it is dropped into a pond.
The biggest challenge facing the design team was how to incorporate green technologies into what was expected to be a very energy hungry building. As a result both the design of the building and the energy supply have been engineered to the highest standards and include features which will conserve maximum energy use and loss.