11 June 2009
Contact: Tessa Kordeczka, 020 7070 6769
A record shortlist for this year’s Prime Minister’s Better Public Building Award reveals how ‘architecture of the everyday’ – streets, schools, bridges and stations – easily ranks among the most imaginative and beautiful designs being built today.
The award is unique in requiring both efficient procurement and excellent design. The 24 projects, chosen from 125 entries from around the country, also represent the biggest ever shortlist. There were 21 projects on last year’s shortlist, and 18 the year before.
Commenting on the shortlist, the Prime Minister, the Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP, said:
‘I would like to congratulate all the projects shortlisted for this year's Better Public Building Award. We are absolutely committed to good quality, sustainable public buildings and infrastructure, as we believe that buildings that work efficiently and effectively improve the lives of those working in and around them and mean better public services. These projects show how creative design can make a real difference to how buildings and places work and can deliver public buildings that the community can take pride in.’
The award is sponsored jointly by CABE, the Office of Government Commerce and, for the first time this year, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (formerly the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform).
CABE chair Sir John Sorrell added:
‘I think we are reaching a tipping point where a desire for good design is evident in most public building. This is not something you can measure easily. It’s a gradual shift in our procurement culture. I think most clients will no longer accept badly conceived, lowest cost solutions, even in a recession. The result is a myriad of examples of well designed buildings and spaces: an architecture of the everyday that helps people live more convenient lives in more beautiful places.’
Half the projects are transport infrastructure. At Ashford in Kent, after extensive public consultation, the radical re-engineering of a wide one-way ring road has given a once car-dominated town a distinctive new identity. Intriguing artworks, such as curved lighting columns, have been skilfully integrated into a new pedestrian-friendly environment.
In Derby, a sleek new bridge across the River Derwent evokes the city’s rich textile past. The Cathedral Green Footbridge is inspired by the movement of the hinged blades of a tailor’s shears and swings round a 20 metre-high needle-like mast. The carefully detailed new Harthill Footbridge provides a safe, weatherproof and easily accessible crossing over Scotland’s busiest motorway.
Wood Lane station in London – the first new station to be built on an existing tube line in 70 years – is an elegant two-storey steel and glass structure, with a 25 metre glass screen façade.
Seven of the shortlisted projects are education buildings. In south London, at Dunraven School, recycled sea containers were used to create a surprising, elegant and light sports hall within a tight budget. On a difficult and heavily trafficked site in deprived inner-city Birmingham, the Joseph Chamberlain Sixth Form College is built around Oxbridge-inspired courtyards.
At the University of Nottingham, the Jubilee Campus extension creates a strong new identity for the university with three stunning new buildings and a striking piece of public art – at 60 metres the tallest sculpture in the UK.
Transformation of Ashford’s three-lane, one-way ring road into a series of interconnected town centre streets aimed to shift the focus away from the car – and create a new identity for the town. Footpaths have been widened, a new route between the railway station and town centre created, secure cycle parking installed, sheltered seating provided and new trees planted.
Situated in an extremely tight site, this new multi-storey academy shows how design can produce a high-quality learning environment on even the most challenging site.
Long-term structural problems have been resolved with a stabilised and strengthened embankment which allows increased traffic of freight trains, saving an estimated 65 million ‘road miles’ each year.
A strong partnership of school, architects and construction team has created a light, airy new BSF school, with a curving central ‘street’ at its heart, and a wave-like undulating roof.
This elegant pedestrian and cycle swing bridge creates both a link and a meeting place. Its design was inspired by Derby’s textile industry and derives from a tailor’s shears, in particular the action of hinged blades as they open and close.
This technically innovative and elegant bridge is a key link in the Forth Valley area, serving the northeast and north of Scotland. It alleviates traffic on existing bridges, bringing much needed environmental benefits to the local community in Kincardine.
With an exposed concrete frame and two cantilevered levels, this new public arts centre, which brings together galleries, events spaces and workshops for creative companies, is a bold addition to the growth corridor of St Neots.
The National Theatre has ingeniously converted some of its terraced roof space to create a new events facility with spectacular views. Construction challenges on a complex and sensitive site were met by a cost-effective prefabricated pavilion suspended on a steel support.
Recycled sea containers have been cleverly employed to create a new four-courts sports hall, providing surprisingly beautiful facilities for both the school and the local community within a limited budget.
Improvements to existing flood defences and new interventions will now protect the village of Ham, which has been flooded by the Rover Tone repeatedly in the last 50 years.
Imaginative re-use of an existing building, with a beautifully crafted new extension, make a striking addition to Coventry’s regenerated city centre. A glazed public arcade extends the public realm through the building.
This unique footbridge – a sinuous span supported by two steel arches – is used by 4,000 people every day and is a catalyst for regeneration of the Stockton on Tees North Shore site, a former chemical works.
The new buildings and grounds provide students in a deprived inner-city area with a rich learning environment. A tree-lined route leads from a busy road and courtyards provide calm, protected spaces.
The design of this creative hub for people with learning disabilities was developed in close cooperation with its users. It also provides facilities for the local community in a low-energy, low-maintenance building.
This deceptively simple yet meticulously designed timber walkway subtly reflects its forest environment but at the same time is striking enough to become a visitor attraction in its own right for the North Tyne Valley.
The new canal link extends from derelict land in the north, now primed for regeneration, to the city-centre world heritage site and new visitor facilities.
Good design and effective procurement resulted in a cost-saving of over £20 million in a road extension that completes the motorway network from London to Glasgow. Major environmental and conservation challenges were successfully met by engineers and contractors.
This elegant and carefully detailed footbridge is fully enclosed and weatherproof and provides a well lit, inclusive and safe crossing over Scotland’s busiest motorway.
Three new landmark buildings and a striking piece of public art – at 60 metres the tallest sculpture in the UK – create a gateway and strong identity for the university, emphasising its modernity and sustainability.
Two 1,500-place secondary schools (the Radclyffe School and the Failsworth School), both previously on multiple sites, have been designed with a covered central ‘street’ that is a flexible resource at the heart of modern, spacious school environments.
Three buildings have been refurbished economically and sustainably and with great panache. Visual cohesion has been achieved through a horizontal line dividing a white surface above from a ‘plinth’ below finished in dark cladding.
The new station – the first to be built on an existing tube line in 70 years – is an elegant two-storey steel and glass structure, with a suspended 25 metre glass screen façade.
The 2.5km of new railway and a new station reduces the barrier imposed by the Thames and provides reliable public transport, helping spur regeneration and providing an important transport link for the London 2012 Olympics and its legacy.
This new two-storey building, replacing its dilapidated predecessor, provides an ultra-low emissions office for Defra. It is the first office building and first government-owned building to achieve an A+ Energy Performance Certificate.