These are Britain’s best new buildings
The architects changing Britain's living, working and learning spaces have been honoured today with the announcement of the country's best new buildings.
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has given prizes to forty-six of the most impressive architectural achievements in the UK this year. Later in the year, a handful of these will be picked out to create the short list for the prestigious Sterling Prize.
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London award-winners include a Grade II* listed Georgian music hall in London's east end, Wilton's Music Hall; the Regent High School in King's Cross; and 61 Oxford Street, currently home to fashion outlet Zara.
A new office building at 8 St James's square was also awarded; RIBA praised the building for its "enlightened architectural approach and refined use of materials."
Zaha Hadid Architects have been honoured for their stainless steel library in St Anthony's College, Oxford. Dame Zaha Hadid, who passed away earlier this year, attended the opening of the library for the university's Middle East Centre last year.
Jane Duncan, RIBA president, said: "One stand-out trend from this year's crop of winners is the huge scale of investment and ambition shown by many of the UK's universities and colleges; almost on quarter of the winning projects are in this category.
"As universities and colleges in the UK are competing for students from here and overseas, it is encouraging to see so much emphasis placed on the power of architecture to help institutions to attract students and stand out from the mediocre.
"I am delighted to see a strong selection of new housing developments amongst our winners, including new models for public housing and semi-rural development. We urgently need new homes, but too often we see projects which have cut corners in quality which fails the people these new homes are meant to serve."