The winners of this year’s Building London Planning Awards have been announced at the capital’s new City Hall in east London.
The winners include the National Youth Theatre, which had a double win on the Best Heritage or Culture Project award and The Mayor’s Award for Good Growth, recognising their creative design and transformation of existing facilities for the 21st century. The development provides inspiring facilities for local schools and aspiring performing artists all over the country while also ensuring that the building has a much more positive impact on the local streetscape as well as making the local area more attractive.
The Hickman has been awarded the Best New Place To Work for providing highly sustainable, high-quality office space that meets the needs of modern working practices. The Power Station Phase 2 of the Battersea Power Station masterplan wins Best Mixed-Use Scheme for seamlessly integrating retail, office, leisure, culture and residential spaces comfortably in the original historic building.
Now in its 18th year, the Building London Planning Awards, delivered by BusinessLDN, formerly London First, in partnership with the Mayor of London and sponsored by Central District Alliance, celebrates outstanding town planning and creative development from across London’s built environment sector with projects nominated from across 18 London boroughs.
John Dickie, Chief Executive at BusinessLDN, said:
“After two challenging years, the successful projects show London remains a leader in innovation and design. The awards tonight reflect the quality of new developments in the capital and its ability to regenerate, helping it to continue to be the best place in the world in which to do business.”
Jules Pipe, Deputy Mayor for Planning, Regeneration and Skills, said:
“The London Planning Awards showcase the sheer range of talent in the capital’s built environment sector. Planning excellence is essential to the Mayor’s vision of building a better London for everyone and I congratulate all of the winners for helping to create the places in which Londoners want to live and work.”
Debbie Akehurst, Chief Executive at Central District Alliance, said:
“CDA are pleased to support this celebration of excellence in town planning and development. The principles of the awards align very closely with ours, with the best-in built environment projects continuously shaping our city into a world-class place in which to visit and conduct business.”
The winners of the Building London Planning Awards 2022 are:
Best Heritage or Culture Project
Winner: The National Youth Theatre – NYT’s street presence has been radically improved with a new pavilion replacing a former car park, in line with NYT’s environmental policy, providing an important new presence within Holloway Road’s largely commercial streetscape. Work has been undertaken to integrate NYT and the activities therein into the street scene, the improvements to the public realm, and the fantastic spaces that have been created to allow young people to develop their talent alongside professional rehearsals. Submitted by DSDHA.
Highly Commended: The Power Station, Phase 2 of the Battersea Power Station masterplan – With the Power Station opening to the public from September 2022, extensive and highly skilled conservation work has taken place throughout to preserve and enhance its historical features of Grade II* listed Landmark, including the painstakingly dismantling and rebuilding the iconic chimneys to the precise specification of the original chimneys. It has been repurposed for the 21st century to ensure its long term, viable future whilst retaining its gritty sense of industrial heritage. Submitted by Battersea Power Station Development Company.
Best New Place to Live
Winner: Goodluck Hope – The scheme will deliver 804 high-quality new homes ranging from studios to four-bedroom townhouses, spread over 16 buildings ranging from four to 30 storeys. Submitted by Rolfe Judd Planning, Planning Consultants.
Highly Commended: New Garden Quarter – Close to Stratford International, New Garden Quarter has excellent transport links and easy access to the Queen Elizabeth Park, schools and health facilities within the Olympic Village. Submitted by Pollard Thomas Edwards.
Best New Place to Work
Winner: The Hickman – As well as 75,280 sq ft of best-in-class workspace with expansive outdoor terraces, the tech-enabled The Hickman features a large 5,100 sq ft shared open-air courtyard, with planting, and areas for agile working, socialising and relaxing. The smart technology employed will significantly benefit the occupier experience both now and in the future. Submitted by GPE.
Highly Commended: 80 Charlotte Street – This delivers over 320,000ft² of workspace, 55 new apartments, a café, a restaurant, and the new Poets Park on Chitty Street. The net-zero carbon, all-electric approach to heating and the mixed-mode strategy for ventilation are commendable. Submitted by Make Architects.
Best Mixed-Use Scheme
Winner: The Power Station, Phase 2 of the Battersea Power Station masterplan – The Grade II* listed Power Station has been repurposed for the 21st century to provide a vast array of retail, office, leisure, culture and residential, all seamlessly integrated and sitting comfortably within the original historic envelope. Submitted by Battersea Power Station Development Company.
Highly Commended: Elephant Park – The Elephant Park masterplan was conceived in 2013 as a mixed-use masterplan that would provide a whole series of benefits to the Elephant & Castle community, such as 1784 homes (including 25% affordable housing), a 0.83-hectare public park and 32 retail units (11 are being let at affordable rents). The aspiration to be a net-zero development by the time of completion and the emphasis on vehicular free streets and spaces also contributed to this being a very impressive new London neighbourhood. Submitted by Lendlease.
Best Project for Sustainable Planning
Winner: City of London Thermal Comfort Guidelines — The City of London collaborated with private sector experts to understand the microclimatic conditions in the City’s public spaces. They developed a methodology to assess the impact of new developments on the microclimate of the City’s existing and new streets, parks, public roof gardens, terraces, and public spaces. Submitted by Grosvenor.
Best Community Engagement Outcomes
Winner: Cambridge Road Estate – The core objective has been to put residents at heart and take residents on the journey of the development from early engagement to completion. Submitted by Cambridge Road (RBK) LLP.
Best Borough-led Project
Winner: Lewisham Gateway – Removes intimidating gyratory and de-culverts two rivers as a centrepiece to a new park and gateway to the town centre. The development is transformative and will boost the attractiveness of the town centre bringing environmental and economic benefits and affordable housing to assist social well-being. Submitted by London Borough of Lewisham.
Highly Commended: Lea Bridge Library Extension – The London Borough of Waltham Forest reviewed its portfolio of libraries to identify opportunities for these assets to be modernised and appeal to broader community sections. Through a well-designed extension, the listed Lea Bridge Library has been transformed into a vibrant community hub bustling with life. Submitted by NPS London / London Borough of Waltham Forest
The Mayor’s Award for Good Growth
Winner: The National Youth Theatre – The new entrance pavilion gives the client a distinctive and well-considered presence in the street scene and opens the building to activities for students and the wider community. The client and their students are delighted with the project and how it helps them achieve their objectives, particularly in reaching out to young disabled people and their “Inclusive Practice” programme. Submitted by DSDHA.
NOTES TO EDITORS
Contact: Josh McLean, Communications Manager josh.mclean@businessldn.co.uk / 07852 030 306
- BusinessLDN is the new name of London First.
- BusinessLDN is spoken as Business London.
- Winners’ project photos can be downloaded here.
