A kitchen in a quarry: why Charlie Bigham’s food campus was named a Riba building of the year

Sustainability is high on the agenda at the Somerset kitchen, which has solar panels, a flower meadow and a cycle path to Wells. Photograph: Emli Bendixen/The Guardian

Charlie Bigham is chatting to me via video call from a room with a view. From his desk at his company’s kitchen in Somerset, Bigham can see 30-metre cliffs, and wildlife that includes peregrine falcons. This morning, he walked to work through 20 acres of wildflower meadows where six species of bee thrive.

It’s a strikingly unusual home for a manufacturer – but then the way Bigham approaches all aspects of his food business is anything but run-of-the-mill.