For more than 180 years, the RIBA Awards have been commemorating exceptional accomplishments. Its esteemed awards and prizes are seen as a symbol of excellence worldwide, honouring first-class architecture, architects, research, and students. This year, Michelmersh was proud to see a wide range of its products used by five Regional RIBA Award winners.
Chobham Manor
The first of five new neighbourhoods that are part of a vision to transform the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park into a series of vibrant new neighbourhoods, this phase of Chobham Manor consists of nearly 900 new homes, a nursery, café, open spaces and more.
London Legacy Development Corporation chose to create family-oriented designs outside of the apartments of the athlete’s village, with homes being child-friendly, sustainable and inclusive. 75% of Chobham Manor homes are three bedrooms and 35% of the homes are affordable.
Blockleys Black Smooth, Freshfield Lanes Selected Darks and First Quality Multis are prevalent throughout Phase 1, with Blockleys Black Smooth providing strong visual contrasts and Freshfield Lane’s traditional clamp-fired stock bricks working harmoniously with the local surroundings’ vibrant colours to create a modern, bright aesthetic.
Houlton School
The carefully considered design of Houlton School by Van Heyningen & Haward (VHH), is the successful retrofit of a collection of historic, grade 2 listed radio station buildings. Its cost-effective evolution into a thriving, sustainable secondary school comes from the careful integration of the previous buildings and by choosing to use products that fitted soundly within the pre-existing vernacular.
Throughout the project, various elements of the building’s industrial past have been retained, with arched windows and high ceilings to ensure that the history of this nearly century-old building is revered, but not overpowering compared to its newly instated modern sensibilities. Charnwood’s range of Cathedral Grey, Multi Brindle and Steel Grey bricks juxtapose with the original elements of the radio station to create a pleasing mix of old and new.
Eton Sports & Aquatics Centre
Built on the site of a former outdoor pool, Eton’s new sports and aquatics centre is a modern update that maximises natural light, open spaces, and simple comfort. Internally, the open spaces work to give a traditionally hectic environment a sense of grace. Charnwood handmade bricks complement light-coloured timber finishes and floor-to-ceiling glazing to create a warm, welcoming space.
RIBA praised the centre for its accessibility and community considerations with creative layouts employed throughout the site to ensure comfortable multi-use opportunities.
The Pears Building, Institute of Immunity and Transplantation
The Pears Building by Hopkins Architects is a world-class immunology research and treatment centre built for University College London. With only 5 similar specialist immunology centres in the world (and the only one outside of the US), the Pears Building offers world-class expertise to patients. The building provides offices, multiple research wings to house over 200 researchers and a 35-bed patient hospital for outpatients or visiting academics. The Pears Building uses Freshfield Lanes First Quality Multi bricks which provide subtle gradients and soft tones, perfectly contrasting the building with the lush greenery surrounding it.
The Pears Building was designed to avoid becoming a “monolithic” structure and sits well within the local area. During its construction, efforts were made to retain as many existing trees on the site as possible to ensure the village feeling of Hampstead is uninterrupted. As expected with forward-thinking institutions, the architects endeavoured to achieve a BREEAM excellent rating, which it easily achieved with its holistic approach to sustainability.
Agar Grove
Agar Grove is a large-scale, regenerative residential development in the London Borough of Camden that was designed with peak energy performance and reducing fuel poverty in mind. One of the largest Passivhaus developments in the UK, Agar Grove is intentionally designed to allow residents to move through the area and ultimately, contribute positively to the surrounding area.
Floren Meteor Rustic bricks were used in the construction of the newly built apartments, which helped to create an exemplar of sustainable development. The unmistakable tones provided by Floren’s bricks help seat it with a strong urban identity that will thrive for many years to come.
“As a business, we are proud to be at the forefront of producing and supplying quality bricks for award-winning projects. The Group firmly believes that by combining our commitment to sustainability with the production of high-quality materials, we can make a positive contribution to the local built environment. These outstanding schemes not only showcase excellence in design and construction but also emphasize the importance of creating environmentally conscious and sustainable spaces which will last for generations to come.”
Frank Hanna, Joint Chief Executive Officer of MBH PLC
