Newcastle uni building named UK's best at London event
A Newcastle University building has been named as one of the UK’s best at an awards ceremony.
The Stephenson Building at Newcastle University has won top prize at Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors Awards Grand Ceremony.
Located at the heart of the Newcastle University campus, the re-developed building spans 198,000 square feet and features research spaces, a student-run maker space and both specialist and multi-purpose education spaces along with technical workshops and support.
The project won the Refurbishment/Revitalisation award, as well as being named overall Project of the Year.
Category winners ranged from Shankill Shared Women’s Centre in Belfast to the Natural History Museum in London, Rochdale Town Hall, and Parkhead Health and Social Care and Community Hub in Glasgow.
Commenting on the Project of the Year, the judges said: “The project sought to reinvigorate the existing outdated and inefficient 1950s engineering block with a future-proofed refurbishment and a dramatic extension, expanding the floor area to house seven engineering disciplines.
“The new vibrant atrium is central to highly functional study, workshop and collaboration spaces, letting in natural light and visibility across floors, reflecting the open and cross-disciplinary nature of the faculty.”
“The welcoming, bright and well-designed accommodation has attracted a marked increase in female students, generated more research funding and led to best practice sharing amongst universities.
“That this complex development was built on time and within budget to evident high quality, is testament to the project leadership.
“The Stephenson Building excelled against every judging criteria, resulting in a stunning world class engineering facility for teaching, research and industry partnerships.
“The transformative highly sustainable refurbishment and revitalisation of the faculty is well deserving of Project of the Year."