RIBA unveils 2017 national awards winners

The Tate Modern extension; Norwich’s straw-clad Enterprise Centre, and Brighton’s new “vertical pier” are among the 49 best British buildings of the year, announced today by RIBA.

Herzog & de Meuron’s huge addition to the former Bankside Power Station – also known as the Blavatnik Building and Switch House – won particular praise for its chain-mail brick façade, while Architype’s environmentally friendly office building for the University of East Anglia was described as “a tour de force in the exploration and use of sustainable materials”.

Marks Barfield Architects’ British Airways i360 observation tower in Brighton was saluted for its “extraordinary innovation and originality” by judges of the awards, which serve as a long list for the building-of-the-year Stirling Prize.

Other winning schemes include Caruso St John’s Liverpool Philharmonic Hall refurbishment; Haworth Tompkins’ Silchester social housing development in Notting Hill, west London; and Invisible Studio’s Wolfson Tree Management Centre at Westonbirt Arboretum in Gloucestershire

Three practices notched up double wins in this year’s national awards.

Wilkinson Eyre won awards for both its expansion of the Dyson Campus in Wiltshire and 8 Finsbury Circus in the City of London.

Eric Parry Architects won awards for the Welding Institute near Cambridge and new music facilities for Wells Cathedral School, while Stephenson Studio picked up accolades for the Stoller Studio at Chetham’s School of Music and the Finlays Warehouse housing development, both in Manchester.

RIBA president Jane Duncan said the 2017 roll-call of national winners was a list of “phenomenal buildings” created by extraordinarily talented, ambitious and enthusiastic design teams.

She said it was particularly pleasing to see great examples of well-designed sustainable new homes among the award winners in light of the UK’s housing crisis.

“Derwenthorpe in York is a fantastic socially and environmentally sustainable housing development; in London, Silchester and Ponders End are both great examples of estate regeneration bringing thoughtful and community based affordable housing to the capital,” she said.

“Sadly though, these projects are exceptions. We all deserve a well-designed, affordable home, wherever we live in the country. I encourage other local authorities, developers and clients to look at these projects as exemplars.”

Duncan praised the selection of high-quality new school buildings included on the 2017 awards list – naming Parry’s Wells Cathedral School project and Grimshaw’s “The Laboratory” at Dulwich College.

However, she said it was “disappointing” that, after a few boom years, there were no cost-effective state-school buildings among the award winners.

“Well-designed schools support improved student achievement, and staff and student wellbeing and should be part of educational aspirations for all our schools, not just those in the fee-paying sector,” she said.

RIBA National Award winners are all contenders for the Stirling Prize, the shortlist for which is set to be announced on July 20.

Full list of national award winners for 2017