News
Quadruple awards honour for Lichfields
15 Oct 2021This week our contribution to the development of much needed new homes and great new places to learn was reflected in no less than four industry awards, including one of the most prestigious.
We advised Kingston University on the Town House building which, last night, won the highly prestigious RIBA 25th Stirling Prize. The Grafton Architects designed building captures the spirit of learning and the value of community cohesion. It has been designed as a purposefully democratic and open space with its civic dimension and sense of home and belonging. The Stirling Prize is awarded by a jury to the UK’s best new building.
Kingston University Town House is a theatre for life – a warehouse of ideas. It seamlessly brings together student and town communities, creating a progressive new model for higher education, well deserving of international acclaim and attention.
In this highly original work of architecture, quiet reading, loud performance, research and learning, can delightfully co-exist. That is no mean feat. Education must be our future – and this must be the future of education.
In this highly original work of architecture, quiet reading, loud performance, research and learning, can delightfully co-exist. That is no mean feat. Education must be our future – and this must be the future of education.
Lord Norman Foster, Speaking on behalf of the 2021 RIBA Stirling Prize jury
Our team in Leeds won the Best Residential Planning Consultant of the Year at the Variety Yorkshire Residential Property Awards, which recognises organisations that have consistently demonstrated excellence in their field between June 2019 and June 2021.
Meanwhile in Scotland our team in Edinburgh won planning permission for Barony Campus, which took home Project of the Year in the School Quality category at the Education Estates Awards. The £68m project consolidates five schools into one campus, creating a centre for education for the towns of Cumnock and neighbouring Auchinleck in East Ayrshire.
To cap off a successful week Oakfield, Nationwide Building Society’s first housing scheme, won the Building for a Healthy Life prize at the Housing Design Awards. This not-for-profit eco-friendly housing development in Swindon is designed with the ‘15-minute neighbourhood’ concept in mind, to try and provide the basic amenities that residents would need close by, without dependency on car usage.
To win four industry awards is a phenomenal result and a real honour. Lichfields is at the forefront of assisting in helping our clients in providing much needed new homes and innovative new places in which to learn, across the UK. These successes are testament to the vision of our clients and effective partnership working with local communities and planning authorities.
James Fennell, Chief Executive
Image credit: Dennis Gilbert