AJ Architecture Awards 2023 shortlist: Civic, Community and Cultural

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 rest of the shortlists are revealed over the course of this week.

Studio Weave’s extension of Lea Bridge Library, which features internal joinery and furniture salvaged from trees felled from London parks, has been shortlisted in this year’s Civic Project category, alongside a multipurpose public pavilion constructed from cross-laminated timber around a plane tree in south London’s Elephant Park by Bell Phillips. 

In the first of the Community and Faith categories (up to £2 million), URBED’s new LGBT+ Centre in Manchester City Centre with the Proud Trust features in the list alongside ScottWhitbyStudio’s retrofit of Westminster Chapel and an education centre for sustainable farming by Timothy Tasker Architects. Also on the shortlist is a regeneration of a Christopher Wren church and new build brick church hall.

New Temple Complex in Hampshire by James Gorst Architects, recently the subject of a building study in the AJ, makes the £2 million and over Community and Faith category, along with John McAslan + Partners’ redesign of a grand new entrance and administrative building for Britain’s largest mosque in Morden, south London, and an affordable workspace with food business incubator scheme in Loughborough Junction by Public Works and Architecture 00.

Finally, in the Cultural Project category, there is a selection of art and visitor centres, including the recently completed Gilbert & George Centre, and the Leighton House extension by BDP.

The expert judges, who have started 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.

 

Civic Project

• Tower Hamlets Town Hall by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris
• School Green Centre by AOC Architecture
• The Tree House by Bell Phillips
• Black Country Living Museum Visitor Centre by Napier Clarke Architects
• Lea Bridge Library Pavilion by Studio Weave

 

Community and Faith Project (up to £2 million)

• St Andrew Holborn Regeneration by DaeWha Kang Design
• St Luke’s Church Hall by Patrick Wilson Architects
• Westminster Chapel by ScottWhitbyStudio
• FarmED by Timothy Tasker Architects
• The Proud Place by URBED

 

Community and Faith Project (£20 million and over)

• Barking Gurdwara by Agenda 21 Architects Studio
• St John’s Waterloo by Eric Parry Architects
• New Temple Complex by James Gorst Architects
• The Bothy and Tùr at Cuningar Loop by jmarchitects
• Baitul Futuh Mosque by John McAslan + Partners
• St Mary’s Walthamstow by Matthew Lloyd Architects
• LJ Works and Loughborough Farm Community Garden by Public Works and Architecture 00

 

Cultural Project

• Leighton House by BDP
• Dugdale Arts Centre by Dallas-Pierce-Quintero
• First Light Pavilion Visitor Centre, Jodrell Bank by Hassell
• The Gilbert & George Centre by SIRS Architects
• The Roman Villa Experience by Stonewood Design
• Gainsborough’s House by ZMMA

 

The 2023 AJ Architecture Awards are sponsored by