RIBA has announced the 32 winners of its National Awards, recognising the best of UK architecture and providing insight into the UK’s design and social trends
Showcasing the breadth and ambition of UK architecture, this year’s National Award winners span an extraordinary range of sectors, scales and building types, from a striking new footbridge that transforms connectivity across the River Severn to a house constructed from site-sourced rammed earth.
Together, these projects offer new ideas for vital infrastructure, housing at scale, workplaces, higher education facilities, integrated mixed-use developments, enhancements to the public realm, arts, culture and heritage buildings, as well as thoughtfully designed private homes.
Innovative approaches to home delivery feature heavily
Innovative approaches to delivering homes at scale feature prominently among this year’s National Award winners.
Canada Water Plot K1 provides 79 affordable homes forming the first phase of the area’s masterplan, while Lion Green Road navigates a challenging suburban site in Croydon to deliver 157 dwellings with an equal mix of affordable and private housing.
With sustainability at its core, Plashnet Road provides 65 affordable, Passivhaus-certified homes in Newham while The Brentford Project delivers over 800 new homes and helps regenerate the wider area around Brentford’s High Street.
Culture and heritage projects are on the rise
Arts, culture and heritage projects are also strongly represented. In Hertford, a 1970s theatre (BEAM) has been transformed into a vibrant new community and cultural hub, while in London, a new dance theatre and school of choreography provide Sadler’s Wells East with a purposeful new home.
In York, two striking, modern projects adjoining York Minster – Heritage Quad: York Minster Centre of Excellence and Technology Hub: York Minster Centre of Excellence – create places where centuries-old craft traditions and cutting-edge technology can be explored and developed.
RIBA National Awards recognise the importance of conservation in today’s world
Furthermore, this year’s winning projects continue to highlight the growing importance of conservation, retrofit and adaptation.
The heritage-led reinvention of Plant, a Grade II-listed 1970s office building in Basingstoke with its distinctive roof gardens, and the transformation of Arding & Hobbs, a Grade II-listed Edwardian department store in Clapham Junction, demonstrate how existing buildings can be thoughtfully adapted for contemporary use.
Other projects include the restoration of Space House, another Grade II-listed Modernist landmark transformed into new work and retail space, and Highbury House & Studio, a former factory behind a Georgian terrace in North London.
A breakthrough for architecture in challenging times
Commenting on the winning projects, 2026 RIBA Awards group chair, Neil Gillespie, said: “This year’s winners, while practising in increasingly challenging times, illustrate how architects working with and for ambitious and enlightened clients can continue to create places and spaces of quality and value.
“Architecture, at its core, must balance the often conflicting and potentially overwhelming demands of climate change, inclusivity, affordability, accessibility, and safety in the pursuit of buildings that are useful, valued, and beautiful to experience.”
He concluded: “Congratulations to all winners, who have shown how, with poise, commitment and talent, this delicate and demanding balance can and must be achieved.”
The full list of RIBA’s National Award winners can be found here.
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