Announcing the Awards 2008 Shortlist

RICS is delighted to announce the shortlisted projects through to the RICS Awards 2008 Grand Final.

From the 313 entries received in January, 54 schemes have been shortlisted for the Grand Final in October. Each project is an exceptional example of building conservation, community benefit, regeneration and sustainability, having won category prizes at regional heats.

The most outstanding entry will be presented with the top prize of Project of the Year, won previously by Oxford Castle in 2007 and Spinnaker Tower in 2006. For past winners visit www.rics.org/awards

The RICS Awards celebrate excellence in the built and natural environment by rewarding projects regardless of their size, budget, grandeur or location. They recognise the diversity of talent that it takes to create outstanding buildings and environments – the property developers, engineers, planners, architects, and surveyors.

Simon Pott, chairman of the judging panel commented:

'The response has been excellent this year. The entries highlight the exceptional standard of work being done today to enhance and preserve the global built and natural environments. The shortlist contains a magnificent range of exciting projects which are a credit to the skilled teams involved.'

To book your place at the Grand Final ceremony, hosted by Grand Designs’ Kevin McCloud at the Millennium Mayfair on 17 October contact RICS Events at events@rics.org

RICS Awards 2008 - Sponsored by Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes-Benz

Media Sponsors

The Independent

The Independent

Estates Gazette

Estates Gazette

Building Conservation

Sponsored by: Hiscox

Hiscox

This award honours conservation in all its forms and covers renovation or conversion to new or original use. In this category the judges have paid particular attention to the construction materials/techniques used, conservation achievements, background research undertaken and the project’s long-term prospects.

Project	Region	About the project
Beeleigh Abbey	Maldon, Essex East	The repair and restoration of Beeleigh Abbey, and its sympathetic up-grading as a comfortable family home.
St Mary's Guildhall	Boston, Lincolnshire East Midlands	A 600 year old Grade I listed building that has undergone a major programme of repair and refurbishment. Due to re-open at Easter 2008 as a visitor attraction.
Fulham Palace Restoration Project - Phase 1	Fulham London	External repair and internal refurbishment of Fulham Palace.
Live Theatre	Newcastle upon Tyne North East	A multi-million pound redevelopment of the existing Arts venue, including the expansion of the theatre into the adjacent building, the Grade II listed Maritime Museum to provide additional theatre space, rehearsal rooms, administrative offices, and a new upmarket bistro-style cafe.
Dalton Hall Business Centre	Cumbria North West	Regeneration of former model farm buildings into a successful rural business centre.
Bagenal's Castle	Belfast Northern Ireland	The project involves the renovation and restoration of a 16th Century castle, also a Scheduled Monument, and a 19th Century warehouse. The buildings are now used by Newry and Mourne District Council to house their museum, exhibitions spaces, tourist information centre, staff and cafe.
Kelvingrove New Century Project	Glasgow Scotland	Kelvingrove New Century Project is the major building conservation and reinstatement of the Category A-listed building, the fourth best attended museum in the UK, including a total new strategy for the redisplay of one of Europe's greatest Civic Collections.
Tudor Cowdray House Ruin at Midhurst	Sussex South East	Major conservation repair of Tudor ruin, previously on English Heritage at risk register. The site is a scheduled Ancient Monument and Grade I listed building. New public access has been created for the benefit of the community and nation.
Clerks Cottage	Somerset South West	Rescue of a Grade II* listed Medieval House from complete dereliction through owner's own personal efforts over a 9 year project, to the highest conservation standards and using traditional local materials, to create a family home.
Nant Clwyd House	Denbighshire Wales	Restoration of timber framed town house with early 15th Century origins, including overhaul and repair of frame, renewal of infill panels, roof repairs, renewal of floors and internal finishes, reinstatement of ceilings and improvements to provide less disabled access.
St Telio's Church	Llandeilo Wales	Re-ordering of Victorian Church to adapt to 21st Century parish life.
Town Hall	Birmingham West Midlands	Works of refurbishment and re-ordering to the interior spaces of the town hall to enable it to meet the demands of 21st Century use.
Wentworh Castle Gardens and Stainborough Park	Barnsley Yorkshire	Major £15.6 million landscape and building restoration project to recover the only Grade I listed park and garden in South Yorkshire from almost complete collapse, opening it to the public for the first time. Project delivered on time and to budget, including restoration of garden/park; re-roof of Grade I mansion; creation of visitor, community and educational facilities; monuments repair and restoration of woodland.

Community Benefit

Sponsored by: Globrix

Globrix

This award looks for outstanding achievements in providing community facilities for a single or group of buildings. In this category judges have sought to identify evidence of positive local community feedback, improvements to local landscape/ streetscape and high levels of public access to the scheme.

Project	Region	About the project
Norwich Theatre Royal Redevelopment	Norwich East	This project involved a major redevelopment of an important regional theatre. The street elevation and front of house areas were completely remodelled to provide greatly improved audience facilities. The 1300 seat auditorium was refurbished and modernised. The work has opened up the building to the community and dramatically improved its relationship with the local area.
Madani High School	Leicester East Midlands	Madani High School is a new voluntary aided school for 600 pupils. The school has been founded by members of the Muslim community and is intended to make a positive contribution to cohesion and local social, educational and cultural projects.
Horizons Centre	Hanwell London	Refurbishment and redevelopment of semi-derelict former depot buildings to provide centre to offer support, education and training to young people leaving council care.
Aspen Gardens	Stockton on Tees North East	Aspen Gardens is an extra care scheme providing 30 apartments and 20 bungalows with a variety of communal facilities including a hair salon, gym, shop, bistro restaurant and lounges. The scheme is part of the regeneration at Hardwick and is being used as the flagship scheme for future projects.
The Gateway	Warrington North West	Refurbishment and conversion of an existing group of buildings for voluntary and charitable agencies providing a joint 'first stop shop' giving access to advice, services and opportunities with shared social, educational and administrative resources.
Belfast Grand Opera House	Belfast Northern Ireland	Extension to the Grade B listed, Belfast Grand Opera House – the first building to be listed in Northern Ireland. The new extension has provided not only new foyer space and improved front-of-house facilities, but also a studio theatre performance space that has created new revenue opportunities for the venue.
Eden Court Theatre and Cinemas	Inverness Scotland	Refurbishment of existing Grade A listed buildings to provide enhanced public access, new offices and front of house facilities, plus a substantial new extension to provide 270 seat theatre, 2 cinemas, 2 dance/drama studios, and new dressing rooms/back of house facilities.
Everest Community College	Hampshire South East	Replacement secondary school incorporating substantial community facilities within a Landmark Building that is a complementary element of the sustainable urban extension are Merton Rise, Basingstoke.
Boscombe Library and Chapter House	Dorset South West	The new Boscombe Library and 24 affordable flats have recently been completed as a result of a very successful partnership between East Dorset Housing Association (a member of Synergy) and Bournemouth Borough Council.
The Metropole Cultural and Conference Centre	Gwent Wales	The project is the refurbishment and alteration of a 100 year old theatre and market hall.
The Priory Family Centre	Sandwell West Midlands	Redevelopment of the former Priory Primary School site, to create a fully integrated family centre that provides a shared vision for education, health and leisure, for the benefit of the local community.
Expressive Arts Building	Kingston upon Hull Yorkshire	A single storey expressive arts and multi-functional building for use by the local community.

Regeneration

Sponsored by: Ordnance Survey

Ordnance Survey

This award recognises improvements to the built or natural environment that make a long-term contribution to the viability and prosperity of an area.

Key judging criteria includes the background/ history of the site, whether the scheme is part of a wider regeneration policy/initiative, reaction of the local community.

Project	Region	About the project
RSPB Environment and Education Centre	Purfleet, Essex East	The Environment and Education Centre is within the Purfleet regeneration zone, a priority area for Thurrock Thames Gateway Development Corporation. As well as helping enhance the area's environment, the project is also contributing to improving the quality of life and providing leisure and educational opportunities for both locals and those further afield.
Westfield Derby	Derbyshire East Midlands	In town retail scheme and Victoria Chambers.
Optus Relocation to Macquaraie Park	North Ryde, Australia International	Redevelopment of a 76,000 sqm industrial site to create Australia's largest ever single tenant corporate HQ Campus on behalf of Optus. The campus is some 84,000sqm of NLA, with retail, gym and childcare facilities on site.
Seewurfel	Zurich, Switzerland Australia	Seewurfel is an excellent example how a formerly industrial are has been regenerated. The site has been transformed into a new attractive centre for working and living and integrates itself harmoniously into the existing historic fabric of the area. The eight new apartment and office buildings are situated close to the town centre of Zurich and offer stunning views of the lake and surrounding cityscape. Each cube is a different shape and size, and each contains both open office floors and open apartment floors, but the different uses are unified and subsumed into a holistic architecture and landscape statement.
O2 Arena	Greenwich London	The O2 Arena as a custom designed facility responds to the demands of all user groups and represents the future of arena design. The arena provides flexibility of operation alongside spectacular comfort.
Sunniside Gardens	Sunderland North East	Regeneration of inner city open space to provide a focal point for recreation in the area.
The Royal	Bowness on Windermere North West	The scheme consists of eight shop units and sixteen apartments of which seven are designated affordable housing and nine for sale with local occupancy restrictions. Enabling works included the demolition of the former Royal Hotel and the excavation and removal of over 10,000 tonnes of rock and overlying material.
Strule Arts Centre / Riverside Regeneration Centre	County Tyrone Northern Ireland	A new 4000 m2 arts facility with auditorium, lecture theatre, and associated facilities.
Quartermile	Edinburgh Scotland	Quartermile is the £450 million redevelopment of the former Edinburgh Royal Infirmary site, and one of the UK's largest regeneration projects.
New England Quarter	Brighton, Sussex South East	Redevelopment of 9 hectares of semi derelict land adjacent to Brighton Railway Station. Mixed use scheme comprising two hotels, supermarket, community facilities, retail unit shops, offices and a minimum of 355 house/apartments (30% social).
Great Bow Wharf	Somerset South West	Having stood derelict for over a decade, the Grade II listed warehouse in Langport was re-opened by Ecos Homes and the Langport Area Development Trust.
Blackwood Interchange	Blackwood Wales	This project combined civil engineering and building construction works to replace an existing deficient bus station with a new bus station terminus building on the same site. It has radically improved vehicle circulation and pedestrian access to encourage greater use of public transport.
Fort Dunlop	Birmingham West Midlands	Fort Dunlop stood empty and lonely for 25 years. In 2004, Urban Splash, with architects, shedkm, converted it into 234,000sqft of offices, retail and leisure space and a 100 bed Hotel. It's now a 24 hour destination for business and enterprise - a Birmingham icon reborn.
The Fairfield Site	Worcester West Midlands	A successful regeneration of a previously run down area of Worcester to produce a new school, health centre, community play facilities, plus private and affordable housing.
St Stephen's	Hull Yorkshire	Hull's flagship £200 million St Stephen's retail-led scheme opened on schedule in September 2007. It has transformed the city centre, providing new retail, leisure, cultural and transport services.
St Pancras International Station	London	St Pancras International station has been successfully refurbished and extended as part of the High Speed 1 project - Britain's first high speed railway in over 100 years. The £800 million transformation has already had an impact on the surrounding areas and is underpinning further regeneration.

Sustainability

Sponsored by HSBC

HSBC logo

This award measures a project’s commitment to the efficient use of resources and celebrates schemes that provide sustainable environments that meet the needs of today’s users, as well as those of future generations.

The judges have sought evidence of forward planning and site monitoring, use of recycled construction materials, energy efficient construction procedures and ‘green’ measures to solve waste and transport needs.

Project	Region	About the Project
Kingspan Light House	Watford East	Design and construction of a zero carbon Level 6 Code for Sustainable Homes house built at BRE, Watford.
Heart of the National Forest Youth Hostel	Derbyshire East Midlands	A new youth hostel in the National Forest incorporating an exemplar sustainable design.
Merck Serono	Geneva, Switzerland International	Relocation of Serono's administrative, research, and development departments from various offices
Larmenier and Sacred Heart Primary School	London	Larmenier is a shining example of sustainable design used effectively to reduce carbon emission and to raise awareness of sustainability in the minds of young people and their community. It utilises and displays a range of environmentally-friendly design solutions: a sedum-covered roof, photovoltaic panels, natural light and ventilation throughout, and a range of energy saving installations.
Northumbria University Campus East	Newcastle upon Tyne North East	Northumbria University's new City Campus East Development comprising two buildings to house the Schools of Law, Business and Design. The buildings provide 24,000 m2 of new teaching, office and support facilities set in highly landscaped surroundings.
Navigation Primary School	Cheshire North West	New primary school for Trafford Council in Altrincham.
The Orchard	Belfast Northern Ireland	The Orchard Development is situated on a brownfield site within a scenic 18 hectare woodland site rich in wildlife. The building has been designed with sustainability at the forefront.
Inverness District Office - Forestry Commission Scotland	Inverness Scotland	A modern purpose built office to provide a comfortable working environment for staff, whilst incorporating the principles of sustainability and with an emphasis on the use of home grown timber.
Oxley Woods	Buckinghamshire South East	Oxley Woods is a three hectare site with 145 dwellings in Milton Keynes, providing a mixture of affordable housing and large private dwellings around a central High Street. Designed as high quality houses for a construction cost of £60,000, and built to a number of quality standards, including 'Eco homes' and 'Building for Life'.
Great Bow Wharf	Somerset South West	Having stood derelict for over a decade, the Grade II listed warehouse in Langport was re-opened by Ecos Homes and the Langport Area Development Trust.
Skomer Island NNR Building and Infrastructure Development	Pembrokeshire Wales	Redevelopment of farm complex to provide accommodation for overnight guests, researchers, volunteers and the assistant warden. Replacement of warden accommodation, replacement of one maintained building, including new infrastructure-water system, off grid electricity, etc.
Innovate Green Office	Leeds Yorkshire	Construction of a 45,000 ft2 sustainable service office building utilising a concrete pre-cast structure, green roof with rainwater recycling, vacuum drainage, Tri generation CHP with absorption chilling, termodeck natural ventilation, fully integrated BMS management system, over 2 and 3 floors linked with central street atrium. Externals incorporate permeable pavements, managed SUDS system and enhanced landscaping with wildlife habitat. Project achieved an Excellent rating under BREEAM with a score of 87.55% (highest score ever achieved).

Announcing the Awards 2008 Shortlist

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