New London Architecture has announced the winners of its 2016 New London Awards. The annual awards celebrate the best architecture and development recently completed or in design across the capital.
Holmes Road Studios in Camden by Peter Barber Architects, which provides accommodation for 59 homeless people, has been named the Overall Winner. The jury applauded the almshouse-inspired studio flats that will give its occupants a real sense of belonging, empowerment and self-worth to enable them to find their feet.
Peter Barber Architects also won best built project in the Conservation & Retrofit category for its Mount Pleasant Studios project, and a commendation for its Employment Academy scheme in the Education category.
Tony Pidgley, Chairman of Berkeley Group, received New Londoner of the Year Award for his substantial contribution to the capital, his companies having been responsible for the construction of some 40,000 homes in London over the last two decades.
From a shortlist of 136 projects, 26 category winners were honored across all sectors of London's built environment, ranging from Housing to Offices, Education to Transport & Infrastructure, and Public Spaces to Masterplans & Area Strategies. Each scheme was selected by a prestigious international jury advised by London-based experts for having both the highest design quality and most positive social and economic impact for London.
Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners won the Mayor's Prize, selected by newly elected Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, for its PLACE/Ladywell residential project, which will provide 24 homes for local families in need. The Lewisham Council scheme occupies a site awaiting development, and uses a volumetric construction method to create high quality temporary accommodation that has a design life of 60 years and is re-deployable up to five times.
The inaugural People's Choice award, which gave members of the public the chance to vote for their favourite London buildings over the London Festival of Architecture in June, went to reForm Architects and Elliott Wood's Rotherhithe Bridge design. Receiving an overwhelmingly number of votes, the win for the currently unfunded project demonstrates the will of the two communities it will link.
The Ashden Prize - championing sustainable projects that demonstrate high levels of energy efficiency - was won by The New Studio at Wimbledon College of Arts. Designed by Penoyre & Prasad, the highly energy efficient project received the second highest BREEAM score in the world in design stage assessment, and has achieved below Zero Carbon and an A+ EPC rating.