RIBA Regional Awards 2023

The Award winners for “Building of the Year” in each region were:

RIBA London: The John Morden Centre by Mæ Architects.

Founded in 1695, Morden College is a charity dedicated to providing older people in need with a home for life, including the provision of residential and nursing care. Residents live on the Grade I-listed college site in Blackheath, which is attributed to English architect Sir Christopher Wren. The John Morden Centre is a daycare centre housing social and medical facilities for all residents.

RIBA Yorkshire: ‘Creative Centre’ by Tate + Co

The Creative Centre is a central pillar of York St John University’s ambitious growth plans. It brings together a diverse student population and combines creative arts learning, research, and practice in one building for the first time. An ingenious and responsible response to an otherwise unglamorous site, it helps to create a sense of enclosure to an emerging campus masterplan.

RIBA East: ‘Ashraya’ by Kirkland Fraser Moor

It was the outstanding quality of this house’s design that earned it planning consent on a site where new construction would not normally be permitted. Standing in the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), it borders the remains of a walled kitchen garden associated with a nearby historic house. Its strong geometric design is entirely of its time, yet it melts seamlessly into its surroundings. A holistic view of sustainability was a defining feature of how the whole project evolved.

Royal society of Architects in Wales: ‘Pen Y Common’ by Nidus Architects Ltd

The brief for this project asked for an extension to a traditional 17th-century Welsh longhouse, located halfway up a remote hillside south of Hay-on-Wye. Having strong emotional ties to this area where they grew up, the client displayed a keen and admirable sense of the responsibility to avoid overdevelopment. This led them to set the design challenge of doubling their home’s footprint without harming the charm and character of the existing cottage and its setting.

RIBA South: Radley College Chapel Extension by Purcell

The extensions to the chapel at Radley College in Oxford offer a masterclass in modern architectural design. Designed by Purcell, they sit comfortably with this historic building, while at the same time being clearly new interventions.

RIBA North West: L’ Écurie at Dorfold Hall by Zoë Polya-Vitry

Sitting in the Grade I-listed Dorfold Hall estate in Cheshire. It resurrects a long-lost stable building that once stood on the derelict stable yard. Following historic research by architect Zoë Polya-Vitry, the new building reflects the scale of the original structure, now offering a venue space with flexibility for a wide range of events.

RIBA West Midlands: University of Warwick Faculty of Arts by Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios

The impressive new Faculty of Arts building for the University of Warwick brings together the departments and schools of the faculty under a single roof for the first time.

South East: F51 Sports Park by Hollaway Studio

Appearing on approach as a shimmering aluminium vessel with glimpses of the tangerine-orange structure within, F51 looks like nothing else. Home to three floors of skating, a climbing wall, and a boxing club, as well as the social and multifunctional spaces that you would expect, there is a tangible buzz to the place.

RIBA South West: East Quay by Invisible Studio

East Quay is a project of perseverance and dedication, reinvigorating the local community and initiating the ongoing regeneration of the coastal town of Watchet in West Somerset. A combination of gallery, workshops, and community centre, it is the vision of the local, female-led, not-for-profit company Onion Collective, and has been financed by community fundraising.

RIBA East Midlands: Lincoln Cathedral Visitor Centre by Simpson & Brown with Landscape Projects

Any historic building of significance that needs to attract visitors to both engage with and sustain it, will often struggle to provide for those visitors’ needs, such as café, toilets, and shop, if they are also forced into the heritage asset. Moving these into nearby accommodation is the standard practice these days, but at Lincoln Cathedral this has been achieved with subtle elegance.

RIBA North East: 17Nineteen by Mosedale Gilatt Architects.

The thriving 17Nineteen cultural centre is named after the year in which the building that houses it first opened. Built as Holy Trinity Church, the Grade 1 listed structure stands in a conservation area in Sunderland’s East End, and was on the Heritage at Risk register. Now rescued, restored and sensitively modified for community use, it retains its architectural integrity while providing modern facilities.