In a series celebrating BD’s Architect of the Year Awards finalists, we look at the Net Zero Architect of the Year shortlist, in partnership with UKGBC
Earlier this year BD announced all the architects who made it on to the shortlists for our prestigious annual Architect of the Year Awards.
Now we are shining the spotlight on each category in turn and publishing a selection of the images that impressed the judges.
This year’s judges include: Yẹmí Aládérun, head of development, Meridian Water (Enfield Council); Amr Assaad, director, Buckley Gray Yeoman; Lee Bennet, partner, Sheppard Robson; Sarah Cary, chief development officer, White City at Imperial; Ben Derbyshire, chair, HTA Design LLP; Martyn Evans, creative director, U+I; Dicle Guntas, managing director, HGG London; Gavin Hale-Brown, director, Henley Halebrown; Tanvir Hasan, director emeritus, Donald Insall Associates; Lee Higson, board director, Eric Parry Architects; David Kohn, founder and director, David Kohn Architects; Oliver Lowrie, director and founder, Ackroyd Lowrie; Anna Mansfield, director, Publica; Jo McCafferty, director, Levitt Bernstein; Ian McKnight, director, Hall McKnight; John McRae, director, Orms; Andrew Mellor, partner, PRP; Sadie Morgan, director, dRMM; Setareh Neshati, director of regeneration and development – delivery and operations, Westminster City Council; David Partridge, co-founder, Senze; Manisha Patel, director, kpk Studios; Sarah Robinson, associate director, The King’s Foundation; Simon Saint, principal, Woods Bagot; Philippa Simpson, director for buildings and renewal, Barbican Centre; David Stansfield, senior partner, Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios; Amin Taha, director, Groupwork; Magali Thomson, project lead for placemaking, Great Ormond Street Hospital; Ola Uduku, head of school, Liverpool School of Architecture; Tatiana von Preussen, co-founder, vPPR; Richard Wardle, director, Stanton Williams.
Today’s shortlist is for Net Zero Architect of the Year, in partnership with UKGBC.
AHR
The practice last year completed the £100 million Woodmill and St Columba’s RC High School in Dunfermline, the UK’s largest Passivhaus-certified education building and a pilot project for the Net Zero Carbon Building Standard. The Countess of Chester Hospital’s Women and Children’s Unit is one of the NHS’s first projects aligned to the Net Zero Carbon Building Standard. The entry also features a Passivhaus assisted living and over-55s housing, and a net zero workplace.
alma-nac Collaborative Architecture
alma-nac treats net zero ‘not as a checkbox, but as a catalyst for joyful, inclusive and intelligent architecture’.
Its new Lower School Library for Dulwich College is a registered LETI Pioneer project, while Barking Energy Centre is a visible symbol of the borough’s commitment to sustainability. The practice devised and delivered a programme of decarbonisation workshops, action plans and stakeholder engagement for the Department for Education’s Net Zero Accelerator Pathfinder project.
Harrison Stringfellow Architects
According to the Liverpool practice, net zero design can be ‘beautiful, place-specific, and empowering’. Its entry includes three local projects: The Changing Rooms, a retrofit for a wellbeing social enterprise, a retrofit of the Bronte Youth Centre, and The Flint, a repurposing of a former repair garage into a workplace. It is completed by the Fahan, a new-build Passivhaus in progress in Donegal, designed to promote circular economy principles.
HLM Architects
Education projects comprise the entry from HLM Architects.
Keele Innovation Centre 7 is net zero carbon in operation, with a direct connection to Keele University’s solar and wind energy farm. The £10.4 million facility was designed to achieve BREEAM Excellent. Schools include Two Bridges Academy, a new-build SEND school delivered through the DfE’s Pathfinder initiative. For the DfE’s MMC1 Framework, the practice has completed six schools and designed seven more using Modern Methods of Construction.
Prewett Bizley Architects
The sustainability-led practice describes itself as pushing the boundaries of low-energy and low-carbon construction to create buildings that are ‘robust, joyful and sustainable’.
Its entry showcases retrofits on three scales, ranging from a ten-year decarbonisation of a modest house to a retrofit strategy for multiple office buildings for a commercial client. The submission also includes The Orchards, a new-build house in the Somerset countryside insulated to Passivhaus Standard.
Studio Bark
The practice is committed to delivering net zero on multiple levels, through buildings, tools and training.
It has created U-Build, a modular timber construction system offering a demountable alternative to linear construction. The circular system has been used to build The Nest, an off-grid home built with students through the practice’s education programme. The practice has developed the SmallCarbon™ carbon-counting tool for use by small practices. A retrofit of a Victorian property completes the entry.
Postscript
The Architect of the Year Awards are on Wednesday, 15 October 2025 at the Marriott Grosvenor Square, Grosvenor Sq, London, W1K 6JP.
Book your place here.
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