Near the end of his life Saint Benedict had an experience in which he saw the whole of reality caught up in a vision of light. For the Benedictine nuns of the Conventus of Our Lady of Consolation, this vision will be powered by the solar panels of their new home, an environmentally sensitive monastery being built in the North York Moors national park.

Next year the nuns will bid farewell to the Victorian splendour of Stanbrook Abbey in rural Worcestershire to live in a monastery with rainwater harvesting, reedbed sewage systems, sedum roofs, recycled material, a woodchip boiler and responsibly-sourced timber.

Upheaval is not new to the community, which has had five homes in its 385-year history, including an 18-month stretch behind bars during the French revolution. Prompting this latest move is the 21st-century phenomenon of downsizing. An overall decline in Catholic vocations has left the community with just 22 professed nuns and two novices, who between them are responsible for the maintenance and overheads of a 20- acre site.

According to Dame Andrea Savage, the abbess at Stanbrook, manual labour was overtaking monasticism.

"We're running a big building, spending thousands of pounds that we don't have on looking after the place and heating it with oil and gas, which isn't good for the environment. We're here for the monastic life and it is being impinged on," she said.

"Stanbrook Abbey was built for the time, they didn't have heating. They had one tap and no bathrooms. It's been adapted since but it's still too big for us and we're not museum curators."

In a brief to the architects, the nuns stated their vision for their new premises. In addition to being sensitive to environmental concerns, a monastery for women should "contain some natural curved surfaces and shapes". The new building, designed by the 2008 Stirling prizewinners Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, will allow them to live simply. There will be broadband-ready bedrooms for up to 30 nuns, a church, library and ancillary buildings. It also incorporates a retreat for up to 15 guests as hospitality is common to Benedictine traditions. The nuns will be in harmony with the heritage of their surroundings, studded with the ruins of Whitby, Rievaulx and Byland abbeys and Mount Grace Priory. "We are supposed to love creation and respect the environment. We're living in and taking care of it," said Savage.

The fate of the old monastery is unclear. In 2002 the nuns decided to sell the Grade II listed property for £5m but to their disappointment it is still on the market. They wished to direct the proceeds of a sale towards their new home and want to save it from being converted into flats, hotels or spas. One nun suggested it would make a nice open prison.

With months to go before the move and with lots of packing to do before then, the abbey's corridors are lined with boxes, discarded furniture, abandoned wheelchairs and piles of disparate objects. Several sales have shed some of the clutter accumulated over the years. The monastery's cat named Britney, after the pop singer, is unfazed by the bustle.

Sister Maria, 79, entered aged 18. She said she was not as sad about leaving the building as she was about saying goodbye to friends.

"The village has grown around us to some extent. It is getting noisier and noisier," she said. "Up there it is much more unspoilt. We hope to fit into the spirit of the place."

They have enjoyed the experience of working with the architects, with a committee of five nuns informing the two parties of developments. The admiration is mutual.

Gill Smith, of Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, said the nuns were "very clued up" about what they wanted from their new monastery. "They were very specific about wanting a sense of space and tranquillity. They also wanted to trade down and live in something that was manageable, comfortable and suitable for the 21st century," she said.

"These clients are naturally parsimonious, they're not into buying and consuming like we are and they have a great respect for the natural environment. It's been a privilege working with them. They're so charming and they're quite good fun."

Ideas for green features came from both sides, she added.

"They'd done their research on the internet and there are techniques that we've used that we were able to suggest. It's quite a creative relationship."