Nine buildings, ranging from a fashion chain HQ to a visitor centre at one of the country’s most impressive cathedrals have been shortlisted for a 2023 Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) East Midlands Award.
The finalists include the £20 million Market Harborough home of fashion brand Joules and new visitor centre at Lincoln Cathedral, alongside a visitor centre in the Peak District and a two storey home on the site of a previous building in a conservation area south of Leicester.
They are currently being assessed by a regional jury prior to the winners being announced later this spring.
The regional winners will then be considered for several RIBA Special Awards – including the RIBA Sustainability Award and the RIBA Building of the Year – and the prestigious RIBA National Award which is announced in the summer.
The shortlist for the RIBA Stirling Prize for the best building of the year in the UK will then be drawn from the RIBA National Award-winning projects, and the winner announced in October.
East Midlands jury chairman James Boon, director at James Boon Architects in Derbyshire, said: “The East Midlands has a rich, varied landscape and history which is reflected in this year’s shortlist – from the visitor centre high up in the Peak District to reinvigorated ecclesiastical and industrial heritage buildings.
“Delightfully crafted private houses have also proven a strong point.”
When it opened in 2021, Joules founder Tom Joule described the new headquarters as a symbol of the company’s history in the south Leicestershire countryside.
At the time he said: “I don’t think I’ve ever been prouder really, apart from when my children were born.
“Thinking back to Joules ’ last-but-one home, I was storing products on a farm and when I told the farmer that we needed more space he pointed to a cow shed and said “will this do?”.
“Six months later we were in, and that’s when it really got going.
“That cow shed should represent us as a brand – how different we are from everybody else.
“We were in the middle of a farm, looking over the countryside, and not many businesses can say that.
“That’s where the wholesale side of the business got going and where online got going and where we started building our shop portfolio.
“It was all about being different to the other brands and about our growing in popularity.”
