London’s Elizabeth Tower and Young V&A have just won very prestigious architecture awards

Last year a London building won the Stirling Prize, which is the most prestigious award in UK architecture and one of the world’s most respected design prizes. None other than the Elizabeth line scooped the award, with the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) – which runs the award – praising the line as a ‘flawless, efficient, beautifully choreographed solution to inner-city transport’.

The process of crowning the next Stirling Prize winner is already underway, with RIBA last week (on July 10) announcing its 2025 National Award winners. The National Awards, which have been held since 1966, are intended to both celebrate the best new pieces of British architecture and ‘provide insight into the country's design and social trends’.

Of RIBA’s 20 National Award winners, a whopping eight are in London – and they feature some very familiar faces. The Elizabeth Tower – which is home to Big Ben – and Young V&A were among the award winners.

The Elizabeth Tower picked up the gong for its conservation and refurbishment project, which started in 2015 and was undertaken by Purcell (architects which also revamped the National Portrait Gallery). Purcell didn’t just repair much of the tower; the firm also had to fix ‘detrimental previous interventions’. RIBA praised the project for its ‘extensive’ stone repairs, but also for the installation of a passenger lift.

Young V&A (previously known at the V&A Museum of Childhood) reopened in 2023 to become ‘the UK’s first museum built with and for young people’. RIBA praised the project – which was by AOC Architecture and De Matos Ryan – for widely engaging with the public, and the new venue features a new exhibition space, shop, learning centre and more. Young V&A won Art Fund Museum of the Year 2024.

The other six London buildings to get a RIBA National Award were: retrofitted 1970s Farringdon office building 8 Bleeding Heart Yard, contemporary Southwark almshouse Appleby Blue Almshouse, affordable Lewisham home development Citizens House, Battersea’s barbershop-turned-home-and-workspace Costa’s Barbers, south London Japanese-inspired home Niwa House, and the London College of Fashion’s new vertical campus in Stratford.

Eventually RIBA’s 20 National Award winners will be narrowed down to six, which will compete for the Stirling Prize. That shortlist will be revealed on September 4

Commenting on the National Award-winning projects, RIBA Awards Group Chair Simon Henley, said:

‘Congratulations to each of this year's RIBA National Award winners. Each of these 20 winning projects is a powerful testament to the diversity and depth of our profession. They demonstrate how architecture is not just a creative force, but also central in addressing some of the most pressing challenges of our time. 

‘This year’s winners reflect the many and varied ways architects are being asked to work, and their incredible motivation and breadth of expertise. As a profession, we now look to the past as much as the future, and to care and repair as we do to build. We continue to innovate but we also seek continuity, and in so doing to make work of every scale that is engaging and thoughtful. The power of architecture to transform society and inform our way of life is on full display in every winning project.’

You can find out more about each project on the RIBA website here.

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