AJ Architecture Awards 2024 shortlists revealed for workplace, mixed-use and leisure

In total, over 120 projects have been shortlisted across 20 categories for this year’s AJ Architecture Awards, the annual showcase of the very best built projects in the UK. The shortlists are being revealed over the course of this week, with the first announced on Monday.

Seven diverse schemes make up the Leisure project category. Two are based in Scotland: the Allander Health and Wellbeing Campus by Holmes Miller, which combines leisure, sports, community and care, and was featured in the AJ’s Glasgow issue last year; and the re-establishment of a local brewery in Falkirk by Michael Laird Architects.

In the Mixed-use project (up to £75 million) category, Child Gradon Lewis’s 100 per cent affordable homes and workspace at 300 Harrow Road makes a reappearance having already been shortlisted in one of the housing categories.

The other big hitters here include Sheppard Robson, Mae Architects, Alison Brooks and Coffey Architects.

The top-band priced category for mixed use (£75 million and over) only has three projects in the running: Orms’ The Outernet in London’s West End; Lucent by Fletcher Priest; and Apt’s barrel-roofed Urbanest City, which the practice worked on with Hopkins.

Moving on to Workplace, the Workplace project (up to £50 million) has seven projects shortlisted. These include dRMM’s cantilevered timber workshop units, TateHindle’s new headquarters for the Salvation Army and Gort Scott’s bricky workplace in White City.

Finally the Workplace project (£50 million and over), includes several hefty campus: LOM’s Unity Place for Santander in Milton Keynes; Buckley Grey Yeoman’s refurbishment of a Canary Wharf office; and Sheppard Robson’s Cambridgeshire technology campus.

The expert judges, who are in the process of visiting every shortlisted scheme, include Eleanor Fawcett of Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation, Biba Dow of Dow Jones Architects, sustainability expert Simon Sturgis and community-engagement specialist Daisy Froud.

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 2023 and 31 July 2024.

The winners in the 20 categories, plus the three editorial-chosen awards, will be announced at a celebratory dinner event at a new venue this year – Park Plaza Westminster Bridge, London – on 3 December 2024. More information can be found here.

 

Leisure project

• Allander Health+Wellbeing Campus by Holmes Miller Architects
• Corner at Tate Modern by Holland Harvey
• Rosebank Distillery by Michael Laird Architects
• Sambrook’s Brewery at Ram Quarter by Roger Mears Architects
• Somerset Road Covered Courts by Hopkins Architects
• The OWO by EPR Architects
• The Peninsula London by Hopkins Architects

 

Mixed-use project (up to £75 million)

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• 300 Harrow Road by Child Graddon Lewis
• 68-86 Farringdon Road by Sheppard Robson
• Daventry House by Mae Architects
• Grainhouse by Barr Gazetas
• One Ashley Road by Alison Brooks Architects
• The Drill Hall by HUT Architecture
• The Tannery by Coffey Architects

 

Mixed-use project (£75 million and over)

• Lucent by Fletcher Priest Architects
• The Outernet by Orms
• Urbanest City by Apt and Hopkins Architects

 

Workplace project (up to £50 million)

• Chancery House by dMFK Architects
• Gateway West by Gort Scott
• Spirax Group Headquarters by Roberts Limbrick
• The Burlian by Orms
• The Salvation Army Territorial Headquarters by TateHindle
• WorkStack by dRMM

 

Workplace project (£50 million and over)

• 8 Bishopsgate by WilkinsonEyre
• One Wood Crescent by Morris+Company
• The Forge by Bryden Wood and Piercy&Company
• TTP Campus by Sheppard Robson
• Unity Place by LOM architecture and design
• YY London by Buckley Gray Yeoman

 

The AJ Architecture Awards 2024 are sponsored by