Of the 26 schemes sifted from the RIBA Regional Awards, it is not only this year's abundance of mega-projects that reached the next round en route to the Stirling Prize
The RIBA’s National Awards have been announced with 26 projects that have been distilled right down, from the initial list of 111 awards across the UK. From these will be drawn outstanding buildings, the special awards and ultimately the Stirling Prize shortlist.
Weston Williamson (now rebranded as WW+P), founded by RIBA president-elect Chris Williamson, is recognised for its understated, yet dramatic, Paddington Elizabeth Line Station alongside one of London’s railway termini. It joins the Elizabeth Line as a whole by Grimshaw (with Maynard, Equation and Atkins) on the 2024 list, announced today.
The Elizabeth Line, with its 41 stations and Grimshaw and team’s elegant and robust system of parts, is not the only megaproject on the list. The huge multi-million pound undertakings of the refurbishment of Battersea Power Station (Wilkinson Eyre) and the King’s Cross Masterplan (Allies and Morrison with Porphyrios Associates) have also won awards. These two projects together total 703,639m2.
The Grimshaw team’s elegant and robust system of parts, which interfaces withso many new and upgraded stations, is hard to quantify in simple square metres. Next in scale is Paddington Elizabeth Line Station (24,603m2) ahead of Jamie Foubert’s reworking of the National Portrait Gallery and Mikhail Riches’ subtle reimagining of Sheffield’s iconic Park Hill flats.
What is undeniable about these projects is the impact for the good of excellent architecture on a huge number of people. To many, they will become everyday spaces enlivened by the possibility of uplifting the spirit.
The baby of the RIBA National Awards – at least in terms of floor area – is the WongAvery Music Gallery in Cambridge at 42m2 – although this single space, on a cruciform plan, still breathes architectural sophistication, as Niall McLaughlin’s buildings always do. It is no surprise to see this small practice’s buildings featured twice on the list.
The second of the McLaughlin projects, working with Purcell, is Auckland Castle Tower and Faith Museum in County Durham, where the RIBA judges commented on the skill in ensuring there was fully accessible visitor route – a challenge in such a historic building. (The Elizabeth Line similarly achieves the milestone of step-free access from platform to street at all its stations – a challenge with deep tunnels and networks of competing infrastructure in the ground above them).
The other double winner is Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios which has also garnered two National Awards working with two historic giants, Bath Abbey and Shrewsbury Flax Mill, with deep and creative attention to how to make the buildings sing again.
As the interest in the newly established RIBA Reinvention Award grows, it is notable that over a third of the National Award winners are reworkings of old buildings, some historic landmarks and others less fully recognised by listing and conservation systems. Three such are the shining re-clad of Bradbury Works in East London, Wraxall Yard near Dorchester and the Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh – the latter a conglomeration of buildings that have had at least four lives between being built and Rieach and Hall ‘excavating the space’.
The complexity of reworking old buildings is significant while the impact is often under-represented in photographs and even in person if the building is unfamiliar to judges. So it is heartening to see these projects making headway on the main National Awards list.
As ever, some of the Regional Buildings of the Year have not made it into the National Awards. From the South West, Durley Chime Environmental Hub, a beach-side assemblage in Bournemouth by Footprint Architects, missed out. Wales saw no projects make it through from its five Welsh Regional Award winners nor the North West from its seven winners. London has 12 winners from a regional awards list of 42. This pattern is a reflection, to some extent, of the number of entries from each area – and also of course of underlying socio-economic conditions across the UK. The sectors with award-winning buildings additionally tell a story of funding priorities and ambition.
With typically higher build costs, Oxbridge continues to feature, not just with WongAvery but also the deliciously inventive Dining Hall at Homerton College in Cambridge by Feilden Fowles. These make up two of four education projects. It is tempting to dismiss them as purely for the privileged but many young people will pass through these spaces, and in 2023 state-funded schools supplied 71% of those at Cambridge.
At the other end of the social scale Page\Park’s North Gate Social Housing for the New Gorbals Housing Association in Glasgow is one of a current crop of social housing projects aimed at older people (one of course winning last year’s Stirling Prize). It is also exciting to see Alfreton Park Community Special School in Derbyshire by Curl La Tourelle Head Architecture making the list, its coloured volumes lending a sense of playfulness inside and out.
As a new government draws a line on this period of austerity, with all the difficulties of Brexit and the pandemic, this awards list gives us reasons to be hopeful that an inventive profession can help rejuvenate the UK – from homes to the public estate.
See a full list of all the National Award winners here with their citations, photographs and drawings
To keep up with the UK’s best buildings, as they are announced, see ribaj.com/riba-awards