Seven East Midlands buildings have won RIBA East Midlands Awards, which were announced at a prestigious awards ceremony held at The Engineering Building, University of Leicester on Thursday 17 May; NGS Macmillan Unit, Chesterfield Royal Hospital by The Manser Practice was named RIBA East Midlands Building of the Year 2018, sponsored by Artifice Press. The event was hosted by BBC East Midlands Political Editor, Tony Roe.
The winning buildings are:
• Advanced Manufacturing Building, The University of Nottingham by Bond Bryan Architects
• Font House, Market Harborough by Gluckman Smith Architects
• NGS Macmillan Unit, Chesterfield Royal Hospital by The Manser Practice
• One Angel Square, Northampton by BDP
• Orchard Barn, Ashover by Chiles Evans + Care Architects
• The GlaxoSmithKline Carbon Neutral Laboratories for Sustainable Chemistry, Nottingham by Fairhursts Design Group
• Vijay Patel Building, De Montfort University, Leicester by CPMG Architects
Regional Jury Chair, Mike Wilson-MacCormack, said of this year’s Award-winners:
“Blurring boundaries is a notable theme. In larger buildings which accommodate multiple teams and departments, spatial organisation skilfully merges more structured zones with break out areas and gathering spaces to encourage openness and collaboration. Particularly within teaching and research facilities, there is a notable visual transparency so that activities are clearly seen and celebrated. Many smaller scale projects are also successful in manipulating space and light to merge different functions and create delightful and unexpected experiences.”
Further Special Awards were awarded to:
• The GlaxoSmithKline Carbon Neutral Laboratories for Sustainable Chemistry, Nottingham - RIBA East Midlands Sustainability Award, sponsored by Geberit;
• Font House - RIBA East Midlands Conservation Award;
• Orchard Barn - RIBA East Midlands Small Project Award;
• Chesterfield Royal Hospital for NGS Macmillan Unit - RIBA East Midlands Client of the Year sponsored by Tobermore;
• Guy Barlow of The Manser Practice for NGS Macmillan Unit and Diana Dina of Gluckman Smith Architects for Font House (joint Award) - RIBA East Midlands Project Architect of the Year, sponsored by Taylor Maxwell;
• NGS Macmillan Unit - RIBA East Midlands Building of the Year, sponsored by Artifice Press.
RIBA East Midlands Award winners will also be considered for a highly-coveted RIBA National Award in recognition of their architectural excellence, which will be announced on Thursday 21 June. The shortlist for the RIBA Stirling Prize for the best building of the year will be drawn from the RIBA National Award-winning buildings later in the year.
An RIBA East Midlands Student Award was also awarded to Joseph Istance of the University of Lincoln for ‘Burrow Hall: A stately home for the Master Mariner’.
