Forest research at Hooke Park is undertaken through the ongoing work of its Forestry team and the Wood Lab – a collective led by Kate Davies and Emmanuel Vercruysse that brings together multidisciplinary expertise from forestry, architecture, engineering, ecology and material science. A central ambition of its research is to explore long-term forestry strategies for Hooke Park, reflecting the fact that the impact of decision-making in forestry can be measured in decades, if not centuries. Research seeks to align the evolution of the forest with the evolution of the campus at Hooke Park, contributing to an urgent broader conversation within architecture relating to the challenges and opportunities of building with timber.

Wood Lab has been made possible thanks to the generous support of John Makepeace, who founded the Hooke Park campus as Director of the Parnham Trust.

Since 2023, Wood Lab Forestry Fellows Catherine Byrne and Jeremy Ralph of Evolving Forests have been working with AA Head Forester Chris Sadd to collect data and develop a 100-year strategy for woodland management at Hooke Park. This included taking the first full inventory and woodland condition assessment of Hooke Park in many years. Data from these surveys has informed an analysis of the current state of the forest, providing a baseline to work from.

What and how we plant now will determine the health and resilience of the future forest in 100 years’ time, which will be fundamentally affected by the environmental impacts of the climate crisis. By analysing predicted changes to Hooke Park as a result of climate change, we have developed an adapted strategy for planting and forest management – including the most suitable species types, planting distribution and desired woodland structure – to increase the resilience and health of the forest.

The 100-Year Forest strategy includes an assessment of predicted changes to both the environment and the timber market over the coming century, and suggests new forestry tools that could contribute to management decision-making at Hooke Park. It is accompanied by an evidence report detailing the baseline data and analysis of the current state of the forest, as well as an action plan for nurturing the forest and its resources over a 100-year timescale.