AN eco-friendly visitor centre that was part of a £1.2m redevelopment is in the running for a top award.

The North York Moors National Park has won praise for its efforts at its Danby visitor centre.

The centre was part of an overall project costing £1.2m at the site done by the park to improve facilities.

Now, the centre's 'Inspired By' gallery has been short-listed in the Wood Awards 2007 competition.

It is featured in the Best Use of British Timber section of the competition which carries strong architectural merit.

The judges praised the gallery for being a good demonstration of the potential carbon savings from using a timber frame in place of steel.

Julie Lawrence, the park's director of information, education and visitor services, said: "We were keen to embrace new technologies in building design as part of the redevelopment of the centre including advances in environmentally friendly and sustainable materials."

The untreated green oak beams in the gallery store around 9.3tonnes of carbon dioxide.

The centre also saved an extra 6.7 tonnes of carbon dioxide by using a wood frame and not steel.

The centre also features other environmentally friendly ideas like a solar panel and sheep's wool insulation Robert Thorniley-Walker, of Structural and Civil Consultants, the project's structural engineer, said: "This ground-breaking project has produced one of the first commercial buildings in the North-East that has avoided steel frame construction in favour of locally sourced hardwood."