First 2023 AJ Architecture Awards shortlists revealed

A total of nearly 140 projects have been shortlisted across 21 categories for this year’s AJ Architecture Awards, the annual showcase of the very best built projects in the UK. The rest of the shortlists will be revealed over the course of this week.

In the Project under £500,000 category – subdivided for the first time this year – rural homes dominate the list. Also on the shortlists are: Sanchez Benton’s garden and kiosk for London Bridge’s Low Line, Studio Weave’s timber retreat in Devon and A House within a House by David Leech Architects.

In the Transport and Infrastructure category, big-hitters John McAslan + Partners, Weston Williamson + Partners and Grimshaw are battling it out, each for its part in the long-anticipated Elizabeth Line, which opened in London last year. Also on the list is IF_DO and Lakwena’s Brent Cross substation artwork.

Holyrood Street Garden and Kiosk makes the shortlist for the second time in Infrastructure and Public Realm, alongside high-profile projects Mayfield Park in Manchester and the pedestrianisation of the Strand.

The expert judges, who have started visiting every shortlisted scheme and will continue to do so over the rest of the summer, include Eleanor Fawcett of Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation, Sahiba Chadha of Cullinan Studio and engineer Webb Yates co-founder Steve Webb.

Also on the judging panel are Sumita Singha, Daisy Froud, Russell Curtis, Eva Jiřičná and former AJ architecture editor Laura Mark.

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 completed between 1 January 2022 and 31 July 2023.

The winners will be announced at a celebratory dinner at the Hilton Metropole, London, on 22 November 2023. Find out more details and book here.

Project under £500,000 (up to £300,000)

• Beech Gardens Pavilions by BAL Architecture
• Pop-Up Ute by Friend and Company Architects
• House with One Column by Jonathan Burlow Architects
• Two-Up Two-Down House by Khan Bonshek
• Pembury Pool House by Knox Bhavan Architects
• Holyrood Street Garden and Kiosk by Sanchez Benton Architects
• Made of Sand by Studio Weave

 

Project under £500,000 (£300,000-500,000)

• De Beauvoir Extension by Architecture for London
• A House within a House by David Leech Architects
• Black Timber House by HAPA Architects
• The Treehouse, Another Place by HPA Architects
• The Old Dairy by James Grayley Architects
• Corner Fold House by Whittaker Parsons

 

Infrastructure and Transport Project

• Luton Direct Air Rail Transit by Arup and Knight Architects
• Barking Riverside Pier by Beckett Rankine Marine Engineers and Anthony Carlile Architects
• Elizabeth Line: line-wide design by Grimshaw
• Brent Cross Town Substation by IF_DO
• Bond Street Elizabeth Line Station by John McAslan + Partners
• Dukes Meadow Footbridge by Moxon Architects
• Barking Riverside Station by Weston Williamson + Partners
• Paddington Elizabeth Line Station by Weston Williamson + Partners

 

Landscape and Public Realm Project

• Glade of Light by BCA Landscape
• New Kent Road Transformation Project by Gillespies
• Strand Aldwych by LDA Design
• Parkview, South Thamesmead by Levitt Bernstein
• Holyrood Street Garden and Kiosk by Sanchez Benton Architects
• Mayfield Park, Manchester by Studio Egret West

 

The 2023 AJ Architecture Awards are sponsored by