A new building at Newcastle University has been named national Project of the Year at a prestigious awards ceremony.
The Stephenson Building on Claremont Road took the top prize at the RICS Awards grand ceremony in London. It had earlier won the refurbishment and revitalisation award.
The re-developed building features research spaces, specialist and multi-purpose education spaces along with technical workshops and support. With a focus on digital manufacturing, sustainable propulsion and biomedical engineering, the hub is now a beacon for world leading education, research and collaboration.
The RICS º£½ÇÊÓƵ Awards showcase the most inspirational initiatives and developments in land, real estate, construction and infrastructure, recognising outstanding achievement, teamwork and companies. Projects in Rochdale, London, Glasgow and Bristol also took prizes.
Commenting on the Stephenson Building, the judges said: “The project sought to reinvigorate the existing outdated and inefficient 1950s engineering block with a future-proofed refurbishment and a dramatic extension, expanding the floor area to house seven engineering disciplines. The new vibrant atrium is central to highly functional study, workshop and collaboration spaces, letting in natural light and visibility across floors, reflecting the open and cross-disciplinary nature of the faculty.
“The welcoming, bright and well-designed accommodation has attracted a marked increase in female students, generated more research funding and led to best practice sharing amongst universities. That this complex development was built on time and within budget to evident high quality, is testament to the project leadership.
“The Stephenson Building excelled against every judging
criteria, resulting in a stunning world-class engineering facility for teaching, research and industry partnerships.
“The transformative highly sustainable refurbishment and revitalisation of the faculty is well deserving of Project of the Year.â€
Elsewhere, Newcastle has missed out on being named Design City of the Year at the Architecture Awards, having been one of four shortlisted cities alongside Cambridge, Glasgow and eventual winners Manchester.
But Killingworth architectural firm FaulknerBrowns won the public building award for its work on schemes in the º£½ÇÊÓƵ and abroad, including the refurbishment of the Grainger Market and plans for the new Market Pavilion arts centre in Blyth, Northumberland.
