Mæ and Panter Hudspith join veterans Hopkins, Reiach and Hall, Niall McLaughlin and Henley Halebrown in final fray for UK’s highest architecture accolade

Hopkins Architects’ net-zero 100 Liverpool Street office development and Panter Hudspith Architecture’s 228-home Orchard Gardens scheme in south London have been named on the six-strong shortlist for the 2022 RIBA Stirling Prize.

For Panter Hudspith and Mæ Architects – whose Sands End Arts and Community Centre in Fulham is also in the running for UK architecture’s highest accolade, 2022 represents a Stirling Prize shortlist debut.

Niall McLaughlin Architects’ New Library at Magdalene College, Cambridge, is the practice’s fourth shortlist placing. Reiach and Hall will also be hoping to make it fourth-time-lucky with their Forth Valley College – Falkirk Campus.

Hopkins Architects has also been shortlisted for the Stirling Prize three times before, most recently for its London 2012 Velodrome, which won the “people’s vote” in 2011. Its first Stirling Prize shortlisting was for Portcullis House in Westminster, when the practice was called Michael Hopkins & Partners.

Henley Halebrown completes the 2022 shortlist with its Hackney New Primary School and 333 Kingsland Road project in east London, which judges described as a “unique” combination of education and affordable housing. It is the second time the practice has made the Stirling Prize shortlist, after its Chadwick Hall student-housing development for the University of Roehampton was selected as a finalist in 2018.

Orchard Gardens, Ele_4839_Enrique Verdugo_PRESSIMAGE_5

Source: Enrique Verdugo

Orchard Gardens at Elephant Park in south London, by Panter Hudspith Architects

RIBA president Simon Allford said all six shortlisted projects gave cause for optimism by offering innovative solutions to current and future challenges at a time of housing, energy and climate crises.

“From major capital city regeneration programmes to new visions for higher education, they all share the ambition to deliver generous architecture fit for a low-carbon future,” he said.

“Four of our shortlisted schemes provide new spaces to interact and learn. These formal and informal settings – schools, colleges and community centres – epitomise how to design for sustained community benefit. They are joined by ambitious new housing developments on compact and complex sites that set a benchmark for investment in high quality, desirable urban homes.

The New Library, Magdalene College Li_4622_Nick Kane_ORIGINAL_2

Source: Nick Kane

The New Library at Magdalene College, Cambridge, by Niall McLaughlin Architects

“All six buildings are informed by close consultation and collaboration with clients, contractors and the community. The result: outstanding and welcoming architecture that lifts the spirit of all who engage with it.

“All six are also underpinned by their understanding of construction’s responsibility to mitigate and adapt to our climate crisis. From the reuse and upgrade of existing buildings to the conscious specification of low-carbon materials and technologies, to the thoughtful design of hybrid, flexible spaces – these schemes consider their environment and give generously to their community.

Reiach and Hall Architects_Forth Valley College Falkirk Campus_ (3)

Forth Valley College’s Falkirk Campus, by Reiach and Hall Architects

“In their architects’ attention to detail, and their clients’ determination and commitment, these six projects distinguish themselves and represent the best of UK architecture today. Together they demonstrate the power of exceptional architecture to enhance lives. My congratulations to everyone involved.”

RIBA said the 2022 Stirling Prize winner would be announced on 13 October at the institute’s 66 Portland Place headquarters in London.

RIBA 2022 Stirling Prize shortlist

100 Liverpool Street by Hopkins Architects (London)

“A net zero development encompassing a dramatic renovation and extension of a 1980s office block to create a suite of offices and commercial and public spaces in the heart of London’s financial district”

Forth Valley College – Falkirk Campus by Reiach and Hall Architects (Scotland)

“A set of three cutting-edge higher-education facilities connected by courtyards and open learning spaces”

Hackney New Primary School and 333 Kingsland Road by Henley Halebrown (London)

“A striking red-brick complex that uniquely combines affordable housing with a new primary school for the growing east London community”

Orchard Gardens, Elephant Park by Panter Hudspith Architects (London)

“A playful cluster of buildings forming a new city block of 228 new homes and retail spaces wrapped around a communal garden – a major element of Elephant and Castle’s regeneration programme”

Sands End Arts and Community Centre by Mæ Architects (London)

”A welcoming, fully accessible single-storey building arranged around a disused lodge comprising flexible activity spaces and a community café”

The New Library, Magdalene College by Niall McLaughlin Architects (Cambridge)

“An exquisitely detailed timber-framed library and study space, designed to replace that previously gifted by Samuel Pepys and projected to survive for another 400 years”