23 February 2004 | Download this press release (Adobe PDF format, 61KB)
Do you know that government spending on public buildings has increased by 60% in 4 years? Do you realise that the public sector is now the single largest client of the UK construction industry? Are you aware that across Government total capital budgets now stand at £32.4 billion for 2003/4?
As the Prime Minister's Better Public Building Award enters its fourth year, CABE is launching a drive to encourage entries for the best new public buildings in the UK for 2004.
Nominations are open to any building that has been paid for with public money, be it a new school, hospital building, public library, or even a public convenience completed between January 1 2003 and January 1 2004. The award is a special category within the British Construction Industry Awards (BCIA), and any entries to the BCIA that fulfil the relevant criteria are automatically considered for the Prime Minister's Award.
Only last week the government announced ambitious plans to rebuild or refurbish every secondary school in England with exemplar designs from some of the country's leading architects. This, alongside an £11.4 billion investment in new acute hospitals buildings means there is an unprecedented investment in new publicly funded buildings.
Announcing this year's call for entries, Jon Rouse, Chief Executive of CABE said:
'This year we are encouraging entries from across the public sector, be it large or small, high or low cost. The actual size is not important, as you can see from the previous two winners of the award, Bournemouth's new library and Bristol's City Learning Centre.
We want to recognise and promote the raft of new and exciting public buildings coming through that function well, look great, and serve the real needs of people living in the surrounding neighbourhood.'
Application forms for entering this year's award can be downloaded from the Better Public Building web site or the BCIA web site or by phoning 020 7960 2400. The closing date for nominations is 22 April 2004.
The short-list will be announced in June and the winner will be presented with the Award at a ceremony in London in October.