RICS Awards Winners, Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors Prize, Buildings Results, Architects Design, Property

RICS Awards – Architecture, Scotland

Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors Scotland: Scottish Winners in 2012, UK

21 May 2012

RICS Awards 2012 Overall Winner

The Centre for the Scottish War Blinded : Overall Project of the Year award winner:

Scottish War Blinded Building, Linburn, West Lothian
Page Park Architects

picture : Page Park Architects
Scottish War Blinded Building

4 May 2012

RICS Awards 2012

RICS Scotland Awards 2012 Winners

The winners have been announced for the four categories at the RICS Scotland Awards 2012.

The competition, organised by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) in Scotland, recognises the achievements of land, property and construction professionals in four categories

– Design and Innovation, Building Conservation, Regeneration and Community Benefit.

The Centre for the Scottish War Blinded

The four winners include:

• Building Conservation – St Andrew’s Cathedral, Glasgow

Built in 1816, St Andrew’s Cathedral has undergone a full renovation with emphasis being placed on securing the long-term future of the building with quality repairs being undertaken on the building’s fabric.

Justin Fenton, Page/Park Architects, said: “The purpose of the works was twofold: The fabric of the existing Cathedral building required conservation and repair to ensure its long-term integrity for the future. Secondly, the Cathedral was not large enough to fulfil its intended purpose as the principal church of the Archdiocese of Glasgow and the seat of its Archbishop. New life has been breathed into the Cathedral and new space has been created to allow the building to flourish into the 21st Century.”

• Community Benefit – The Galson Business Centre, Isle of Lewis

The Galson Business Centre forms a key component of the community buy out of a 22,260 acre estate on the Isle of Lewis. The centre is a detached, single storey building of timber framed construction with timber external cladding and aluminium clad roof. The low level structure has been carefully formed to minimise the impact of the severe climate and to reduce evaporative losses. The purpose of the office is to provide the trust with its own business premises.

Laura Johnston, Head RICS Judge, said: “We were impressed with the particular attention which was paid to the insulation levels and air tightness of this building which has allowed significant scope to develop renewable energy thermal appliances internally. We were equally impressed with the level of community engagement in the project.”

• Design and Innovation – The Centre for the Scottish War Blinded

The Centre for the Scottish War Blinded is a new build, single storey day care centre for ex service personnel on the outskirts of Edinburgh. The facilities include a workshop, art space, training gym, therapy centre and remembrance arena. It is a very distinctive building in the shape of a dragon, so the building works on a long sweep with a twisting zinc roof. The RICS judges were impressed with the quality of the design, the use of good visual contrast, curving geometry and are utilisation of f energy efficiency measures, including natural ventilation and a ground source heat pump.

Laura Johnston added: “To accommodate the needs of the users of this building a great deal of time and consideration has been given to how best to create a space which allows visitors to move through easily. The architect who met with us explained that they had put bubble pack over the designs team eyes at times so that they could properly interpret the space as a user. Their commitment to the needs of the end users shone through.”

• Regeneration – Threadneedle Street, Peterhead

Threadneedle Street is a pair of Georgian Terraces constructed in 1771. It is a small, socially inclusive project and is part of the National Trust for Scotland’s Little Houses Improvement Scheme. The project is a housing and day care centre with three self contained flats for the physically and mentally impaired. The Judges were impressed with the sensitive conservation of the historic buildings to provide, modern, flexible and accessible accommodation which is hidden from the historic street front. The restoration is of high quality, well thought out and sensitive to its surroundings.

Stephen Copp, National Trust for Scotland said: “The Little Houses Improvement Scheme is honoured to be awarded the RICS Regeneration Award 2012 for its works at Threadneedle Street in Peterhead. Our goal was to work with the local community to bring new life to a group of neglected properties and to provide much needed housing for a vulnerable element of society.

We are delighted that our efforts have been recognised by such a significant institution as the RICS.” Winners of the RICS Scotland Awards will be automatically entered into the RICS global award finals. Here, the Scottish winners will face tough competition in the shape of entries from countries from all over the world.