RIBA unveils 2025 Client of the Year shortlist

The UK parliament has been named as one of six clients on the shortlist for RIBA’s Client of the Year Award for the restoration of Elizabeth Tower.

The annual award, now in its 27th year, celebrates the role of clients in championing outstanding architecture.  

The Purcell-designed restoration of Elizabeth Tower was the most extensive in the building’s 160-year history. RIBA said the success of the project was “testament to the client’s ambition and commitment to maintaining its historical landmark status”.

Other clients on the shortlist include the Scottish Prison Service for a new 100-person facility for women in custody in Scotland designed by Holmes Miller.

RIBA said the client had centred the design ethos, which included large courtyards and garden spaces to encourage interaction and reflection, on creating a “gender specific, trauma informed, and therapeutic environment throughout”.

Jury chair Simon Henley, founding Director of Henley Halebrown, said: “This year all our finalists are community groups and public bodies, all with an ambitious brief that has changed the lives of those who encounter their buildings. 

“While the shortlisted clients have a range and variety of experience, they all showed real courage and resilience in pursuing their goals for these projects whilst facing multiple challenges and complexities over many years. 

“These buildings are therefore often born out of enduring, close working relationships between the client and the architect. Each has benefited from a collaborative design process and a high degree of trust which has resulted in these clients’ facilitating great architecture.”

This year’s jury also comprised Hopkins director Sophy Twohig, Shakespeare North Trust founding member and 2024 RIBA Client of the Year winner Kathy Dacre and Ibstock social housing development director Kate Guy.

The Client of the Year Award shortlist is selected from winners of the RIBA Regional and National Awards 2025. The winner will be announced at the Stirling Prize ceremony on 16 October.