The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has announced the 26 winners of the RIBA National Awards 2024 for architecture.
The awards, presented since 1966, recognise the best of UK architecture and provide insight into the country's design and social trends.
Winning projects stretch across the United Kingdom, including Northern Ireland and Scotland. The varied projects range in scale, from an urban masterplan (King’s Cross - pictured) and a new transport network (The Elizabeth Line) to a house nestled in the Cornish landscape (Farmworker’s House) or a beautifully repurposed dairy farm (Wraxall Yard).
Image: John Sturrock
Key themes among this year’s award winners include:
Restoration and adaptation
This year’s awards feature inspiring examples of existing buildings and structures that have been given a new lease of life thanks to intelligent designs, developed by working closely with clients and local communities.
Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings – opened in the 18th century and widely regarded as the ‘grandparent of skyscrapers’ – has now been converted for multiple different uses, providing a bright future for the next 100 years. In London, the world-renowned Battersea Power Station has been preserved for the city’s skyline and reimagined as a new work and leisure destination along the River Thames.
The ongoing regeneration of the Park Hill Estate in Sheffield demonstrates that our Brutalist heritage can play a role in the changing needs of urban living, while affordable workspace can be created by extending and re-skinning a Victorian terrace in Hackney in the form of Bradbury Works. Ancient sites have been carefully adapted so that they can continue to serve their local communities, such as Auckland Castle and the Bath Abbey Footprint Project.
Materials and construction
While creating new buildings, the projects included in the National Awards 2024 demonstrate how thoughtful and appropriate construction and a considered approach to material selection can make a valuable impact on the success of any scheme.
At Beechwood Village, off-site modular construction has been artfully deployed to create high-quality homes that are more sustainable than their more traditional counterparts. The Arbor in Waltham Forest showcases how to make a carbon-negative development using waste and bio-based materials. An entirely timber-framed structure at New
Temple Complex has eliminated the need for steel, while simultaneously creating elegant and reflective spaces. More timber is used for the Dining Hall, Homerton College, Cambridge but this building is also clad in ceramic tiles, drawing inspiration from the college’s early 20th century Arts and Crafts buildings.
The 26 projects were selected by the expert jury, who visited all shortlisted projects.
Commenting on the winning projects, RIBA President Muyiwa Oki, said: “The sheer breadth of work is quite astounding, with large infrastructure schemes sitting alongside high-quality detailed smaller projects. This is a testament to the standard of architecture in the UK right now, as we maintain a sense of ambition and consider how design must evolve to meet future needs.”
RIBA Awards Group 2024 chair, Simon Henley, said: “We're delighted to award these 26 projects across the UK and recognise their exceptional quality and the hard work of teams behind them. From projects engaged with technology, community, visual arts to hands-on making, these National Winners reflect the breadth of contemporary practice and how architecture itself is an inclusive medium that addresses many of society’s challenges.”
The RIBA National Award 2024 winners are:
Alfreton Park Community Special School - Curl la Tourelle Head Architecture
- A school for pupils aged between 3 to 19 with special educational needs and disabilities
Auckland Castle, Tower and Faith Museum - Níall McLaughlin Architects & Purcell
- A series of urban and historic interventions for the restoration of a 900-year-old Grade I-listed Castle
Bath Abbey Footprint Project - Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios
- Repair, conservation work and much-needed new facilities at the centre of the UNESCO City of Bath
Battersea Power Station Phase Two - WilkinsonEyre
- The restoration and transformation of the London landmark on the banks of the River Thames
Beechwood Village - Pollard Thomas Edwards
- A co-designed modular, contemporary neighbourhood
Bradbury Works - [Y/N] Studio
- The refurbishment and extension of existing affordable workspace
Chowdhury Walk - Al-Jawad Pike
- This new development repurposes under-used Hackney Council land to provide new council homes
Dining Hall, Homerton College, Cambridge - Feilden Fowles Architects
- The new building has become the focal point in the college’s social and cultural life
Farmworker's House - Hugh Strange Architects
- A single-storey courtyard house for a farm manager, considerate of the surrounding rural landscape
House on Redbrae Farm - McGonigle McGrath Architects
- A rural house that is both local and foreign, traditional and modern
King's Cross Masterplan - Allies and Morrison and Porphyrios Associates
- This pioneering masterplan has set a new bar in city making
National Portrait Gallery - Jamie Fobert Architects and Purcell
- A significant transformation aimed at enhancing the visitor experience and revitalising the historic spaces
New Temple Complex - James Gorst Architects
- A domed temple with an arrival sequence that leads from secular to ritual spaces
North Gate Social Housing - Page\Park Architects
- An urban social housing scheme has been designed to suit the needs of older residents
Paddington Elizabeth Line Station - WW + P
- An addition to London's transport network that brings daylight and fresh air to platform level
Park Hill Phase 2 - Mikhail Riches
- The retrofit is part of the ongoing regeneration of the Grade II* listed, Brutalist estate
Royal Academy of Dance - Takero Shimazaki Architects
- The RAD’s new home is the ground floor of a new residential tower on a main thoroughfare
Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings - Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios
- A full refurbishment of a hugely important historic structure into a new leisure destination
Six Columns - 31/44 Architects
- A house designed to accommodate the family within their existing neighbourhood
Thames Christian School & Battersea Chapel - Henley Halebrown
- The six-storey building provides the church and school with a new community hall and sanctuary
The Arbour - Boehm Lynas and GS8
- Ten homes on a constrained backland, brownfield site in the heart of Walthamstow Village
The Black & White Building - Waugh Thistleton Architects
- The tallest engineered timber office building in central London
The Elizabeth Line - Grimshaw, Maynard, Equation, Atkins
- The most significant contribution to London’s transportation in over 20 years
The Fruitmarket Gallery - Reiach and Hall Architects
- The much-loved Edinburgh gallery has been reinvented and enlarged
WongAvery Gallery - Níall McLaughlin Architects
- A new music practice and performance space for Trinity Hall, Cambridge
Wraxall Yard - Clementine Blakemore Architects
- A sensitively restored dairy farm offering inclusive holiday accommodation, a community space, and educational smallholding
RIBA National Award 2024 winners will now be considered for the highly coveted RIBA Stirling Prize for the best building project of the year in recognition of their architectural excellence, the shortlist of which will be announced on 31 July.
