AJ Architecture Awards 2023 – final set of shortlists revealed

In total, nearly 140 projects have been shortlisted across 21 categories for this year’s AJ Architecture Awards, the annual showcase of the very best built projects across the UK. The shortlists, revealed over the course of this week, conclude here with those for the last four categories: Health and Wellbeing, Higher Education, Refurb and School.

In the Health and Wellbeing category, the shortlisted projects, showing the breadth of the sector, include the Gorton Hub by Arcadis, a health and community centre in Manchester; the Hythe & Dibden War Memorial Hospital by Architecture PLB in East Sussex; Kimmeridge Court in Bournemouth, an eating disorders unit, by Medical Architecture; and a later living-housing development, Hampstead Mansion Block by Sergison Bates architects.

The shortlist for the Higher Education category meanwhile features a rich seam of urban mixed-use university and research buildings including the Cheng Yu Tung Building by MICA Architects for Jesus College, Oxford, which combines teaching, retail, research, NHS healthcare and student living. Also in contention are the major new city-centre campus for Ulster University Belfast by Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios; ArtsEd by De Matos Ryan a performing arts school in Chiswick; and the University of York Student Residences by Sheppard Robson, a development of waterside student housing.

Workplaces feature heavily on the shortlist for the Refurb category with projects including Bradbury Works by [Y/N] Studio, the inspired rework and polycarbonate wrapping of retail units to create affordable workspace; Three Mills by Gort Scott, the adaptive and creative reuse of four buildings as TV and film production studios; and HTA Design's own offices at 75 Wallis Road in Hackney Wick, which use a repurposed Victorian warehouse. Also shortlisted are East Ham Old Fire Station by dRMM, the sensitive conversion of an historic building in a civic centre to provide affordable homes and commercial space; and Grafton's mixed-use The Parcels Building with its new stone façade riffing off Selfridges next door.

Finally in the Schools category, shortlisted projects range from those on tight inner city sites, such as the terraced Edith Neville Primary School by Hayhurst and Co in Somers Town and Perkins&Will’s Grenfell Early Years Nursery – which won the AJ100 Community Impact of the Year Award, to those set in more rural and out-of-town locations: the low slung Alfreton Park Community SEN School by Curl la Tourelle Head Architecture in the Derbyshire countryside as well as the School Hall and Music School designed by Hollaway Studio at Benenden School.

Our expert judges for the AJAA Awards are in the process of visiting every shortlisted scheme in each category. They include Eleanor Fawcett of Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation, Sahiba Chadha of Cullinan Studio and engineer Webb Yates co-founder Steve Webb.

Also on the judging panels are Sumita Singha, Daisy Froud, Russell Curtis, Eva Jiřičná and former AJ architecture editor Laura Mark.

In addition to stand-out design, the judges will consider how each project has met or exceeded its brief, how it has promoted client or community engagement and how it has excelled in the use of space or sense of place. They will also analyse what sustainability measures have been put in place. Each project must have been completed between 1 January 2022 and 31 July 2023.

The winners will be announced at a celebratory dinner at the Hilton Metropole, London, on 22 November 2023. Find out more details and book here.

 

Health and Wellbeing

• Gorton Hub by Arcadis
• Hythe & Dibden War Memorial Hospital by ArchitecturePLB
• Kimmeridge Court - Eating Disorders Unit by Medical Architecture
• Hampstead Mansion Block by Sergison Bates architects

 

Higher Education

• TP2 (Tavistock Place) by BMJ Architects
• ArtsEd by De Matos Ryan
• Ulster University Belfast Campus by Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios
• One Pool Street, UCL East by Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands
• ARU Peterborough - University House by MCW Architects
• Cheng Yu Tung Building by MICA Architects
• Lucy Cavendish College by R H Partnership Architects
• University of York Student Residences by Sheppard Robson

 

Refurb

• Bradbury Works by [Y/N] Studio
• Bromley Old Town Hall by Cartwright Pickard
• East Ham Old Fire Station by dRMM
• Three Mills by Gort Scott
• The Parcels Building by Grafton Architects
• 75 Wallis Road by HTA Design
• The Bindery by Piercy&Company

 

Schools

• Alleyn’s Junior School – New Build & Refurbishment by ArchitecturePLB
• Alfreton Park Community SEN School by Curl la Tourelle Head Architecture
• Edith Neville Primary School by Hayhurst and Co.
• Benenden School, School Hall and Music School by Hollaway Studio
• Winchburgh Schools Campus by jmarchitects with Ryder Architecture
• Grenfell Early Years Nursery by Perkins&Will
• White House School by vPPR Architects

 

The 2023 AJ Architecture Awards are sponsored by