Revealed: first of the AJ Architecture Awards 2024 shortlists

In total, over 120 projects have been shortlisted across 20 categories for this year’s AJ Architecture Awards, the annual showcase of the very best built projects in the UK. The shortlists are being revealed over the course of this week.

The first set of shortlists feature some heavy-hitting retrofits from the past couple of years. In the Cultural category, there is: Levitt Bernstein’s restoration of the Grade II-listed Bristol Beacon concert hall (formerly known as Colston Hall); the long-awaited transformation of the Scottish Galleries at the National in Edinburgh by the now defunct Hoskins Architects; and Bethnal Green’s famous museum of childhood redevelopment, by AOC Architecture and De Matos Ryan, which reopened to the public last year.

The same pairing has also just completed schemes at Yorkshire’s National Railway Museum.

Featuring a hefty six projects, Health and wellbeing includes four hospital centre schemes in addition to Swiss practice’s Herzog & de Meuron’s AstraZeneca HQ in Cambridge – which opened five years late and takes the form of a curved triangle with glazed sawtooth roof.

Recently appraised in an AJ study, DRDH’s combined library, cinema and housing for Sidcup, and AHMM’s acclaimed Tower Hamlets Town Hall have both made the shortlist in Civic.

Meanwhile, Community and faith features two crematoriums alongside last year’s overall winner, James Gorst Architects, this time for its Suffolk timber community hall. In 2023, the practice took home AJ Design of the Year for its ‘pure architecture’ multifaith community scheme set in the South Downs.

The expert judges, who are in the process of visiting every shortlisted scheme, include Eleanor Fawcett of Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation, Biba Dow of Dow Jones Architects, Simon Sturgis and Daisy Froud.

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 2023 and 31 July 2024.

The winners in the 20 categories, plus the three editorial-chosen awards, will be announced at a celebratory dinner event at a new venue this year – Park Plaza Westminster Bridge, London – on 3 December 2024. More information can be found here.

Civic project

Source:Rachel Ferriman

Shipman Youth Zone by Rivington Street Studio

• Paisley Central Library by Collective Architecture
• Shipman Youth Zone by Rivington Street Studio
• Sidcup Storyteller by DRDH Architects
• Tower Hamlets Town Hall by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris

Community and faith project

Source:Lorenzo Zandri

Castle Community Rooms by James Gorst Architects

• Castle Community Rooms by James Gorst Architects
• Hemel Crematorium by Haverstock
• Oak Hill Lawn Crematorium by Benchmark Architects

Cultural project

Source:Tim Crocker

Bristol Beacon by Levitt Bernstein

• Bristol Beacon by Levitt Bernstein
• Brixton House Theatre + Workspace by Foster Wilson Size
• Manchester Museum by Purcell
• Scottish Galleries at the National by Hoskins Architects
• V&A Photography Centre by Gibson Thornley Architects and Purcell
• Young V&A by AOC Architecture and De Matos Ryan

Health and wellbeing project

Source:Hufton+Crow

The Discovery Centre by Herzog & de Meuron (UK)

• Children’s Day Treatment Centre at Evelina London Children’s Hospital by ADP Architecture
• Christie Paterson Building by BDP
• Fulbourn Resource Centre by Murphy Philipps Associates
• Louisa Martindale Building (3Ts), Royal Sussex County Hospital by BDP
• Oak Cancer Centre by BDP
• The Discovery Centre by Herzog & de Meuron (UK)

Landscape and public realm project

Sponsored by Marshalls

Source:Ares Landscape Architects

Viaduct Gardens by Ares Landscape Architects

• Paddington Central Amphitheatre by Gillespies
• Regents Place by Townshend Landscape Architects
• Union Terrace Gardens by LDA Design and Aberdeen City Council
• Viaduct Gardens by Ares Landscape Architects