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AJ ARCHITECTURE AWARDS 2023
24 August 2023 · By Fran Williams and Rob Wilson
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Source:&nbspHistoric England Archive

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Source:&nbspAndy Stagg

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Source:&nbspMcAleer and Rushe

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Source:&nbspDirk Lindner
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Source:&nbspDavid Valinsky

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Today the AJ reveals the contenders for the Heritage and Housing Project categories
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 in the UK. The shortlists are being revealed over the course of this week.
In this year’s Heritage Project category, the shortlist includes two historic fortified country-house restorations in the form of Hay Castle by MICA and Oxburgh Hall by Purcell, as well as the world’s first iron-framed building: the Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings, brought back to life by FCBS and dubbed ‘the grandparent of the skyscraper’ for its structural innovation. A world-famous tower features too: the Elizabeth Tower at the Houses of Parliament, also restored by Purcell.
The first of the Housing Project category shortlists (£20 million and over), features the pin-wheel like blocks of Ruff Architects/Mary Duggan Architects’ Lion Green Road, originally commissioned by Croydon’s soon-to-be-wound-up developer Brick by Brick. Also shortlisted are the equally expressive design of Dockley Apartments by Studio Woodroffe Papa and Poggi Architecture; Howells’ 42-storey The Mercian, the tallest residential tower in Birmingham; and Assael’s wharf-like Sunday Mills co-living scheme.
Meanwhile, the retrofit of a Grade II*-listed mill into housing, the Avro by Stephenson Hamilton Risley Studio for Urban Splash in Manchester makes the Housing Project (£5 million to £20 million) category, as does PagePark’s North Gate later-living social housing scheme in Glasgow with its distinctively splayed block form.
In the final Housing Project category (up to £5 million), projects include the Citizen’s House by Archio, a development of Community Land Trust homes in Lewisham, which is the subject of a building study in this month’s AJ. Other shortlisted projects include the timber-structured Fraser/Livingstone’s Simon Square in Edinburgh, a contemporary interpretation of the tenement; the modular Crofts Street terrace scheme in Cardiff by RSHP; and MCW Architects’ Mill in Cambridge, a contextual cluster of small apartments.
The expert judges, who are in the process of visiting every shortlisted scheme, 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 panel 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.