Rescue and restore a William Adam-designed villa, create an outdoor installation ‘filled with play, wonder and delight’, imagine a multifunctional exclusive/inclusive complex that serves client and community - some of the latest architecture contracts and competitions from across the industry
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Contract
Conservation design team sought for phase 1 rescue of derelict William Adam-designed villa, near Loanhead
Deadline: 1pm, 21 August 2024
The Landmark Trust is looking to appoint a conservation design team to work on the rescue, restoration and conversion of Mavisbank, the first Palladian house built in Scotland.
Mavisbank House is located near Loanhead, south of Edinburgh in Midlothian. It was designed and constructed in the 1720s in a collaboration between John Clerk of Penicuik, a leading figure of the Scottish Enlightenment, and architect William Adam. According to The Landmark Trust, ‘following a fire in 1973, the house, which is in unknown ownership, has remained an unstable ruin and its designed landscape largely neglected and difficult to access’.
‘The ownership status of Mavisbank is the root cause of its current perilous state,’ says the brief. ‘Working with Midlothian Council the Council will acquire the site (the footprint of the house and pavilions) and transfer the freehold back-to-back to the client [The Landmark Trust]. This will once and for all resolve the ownership issues at Mavisbank and facilitate its rescue’.
The appointed team is expected to develop the detailed design, secure approval and oversee the delivery and implementation of phase 1 (rescue) works to the main house and pavilions, ‘securing the acquisition, delivering access, arresting further decay and stabilising the existing ruin’ before moving on to phase 2 (restoration to RIBA stage 7). This will cover the completion of the restoration works to the house and pavilions and its reopening to the public as Landmark Trust self-catering accommodation.
‘The main house will see the principal rooms reinstated at ground floor and bedrooms provided at first floor sufficient to sleep eight people. The ground and first floor of the building must be fully accessible… The project must be designed to be an exemplar in how heritage projects can incorporate environmental sustainability and adapt to deal with the impacts of climate change.’
Evaluation criteria: Quality, 70 per cent; price, 30 per cent. Estimated value is £380,000.
Eligibility ‘The design team must include a RIBA (SCA) or AABC or equivalent accredited conservation architect in a leading role… [and] a CARE accredited engineer. The lead architect will need to have specialist knowledge and experience of preserving, conserving and restoring complex historic buildings of high status (grade I/grade II*/equivalent), but within a broader portfolio of work. An understanding of the complexities of running NHMF and NLHF funded projects would be beneficial.’
Procedure Restricted procedure: single procurement document followed by invitations to tender (maximum five candidates).
Location East Lothian and Midlothian.
Other dates Dispatch of invitations to tender, 3 September 2024. Submission of invitations to tender, 3 October 2024. Notifications, 21 October 2024. Contract issued, 5 November 2024.
To apply or find out more, see the contract notice
Buyer contact The Landmark Trust, 01628494994, historicestates@landmarktrust.org.uk
Project competition
REIMAGINING PLAY AT DULWICH PICTURE GALLERY
Open call for architects, designers and artists to submit ideas for an outside sculpture-cum-play piece that will remain in situ for ten years
Deadline (expressions of interest) 12 noon, 5 September 2024
London Festival of Architecture (LFA) has launched a competition for the development of a ‘unique, site-specific, playable sculptural installation’ at Dulwich Picture Gallery’s new sculpture garden.
Dulwich Picture Gallery is an internationally renowned art gallery and registered charity that opened in 1817. It holds an iconic collection of European masterpieces and runs a dynamic programme of exhibitions, events and community initiatives.
According to the brief, the contest offers an ‘exceptional opportunity for a creative designer or design team to secure a public commission that merges the realms of play, art, architecture and design, informed by primary-aged children’. Installation is planned for 2026.
The installation is part of the gallery’s Open Art project, which is supported by Carmody Groarke and Kim Wilkie, and aims to integrate the gardens with the gallery by transforming three acres into a sculpture garden.
Previous LFA and Dulwich Picture Gallery interventions include Yinka Ilori and Pricegores’ Colour Palace in 2019 and the first Dulwich Pavilion, ‘After Image’ by IF_DO in 2017.
The LFA is a month-long celebration of architecture and city-making, taking place every June across London. Now in its 20th year, its mission is to encourage discussions around architecture, test new ideas and promote emerging talent.
Judging criteria for the first stage: practice/team profile, 40 per cent; initial vision, 30 per cent; approach to engagement, 30 per cent. Second stage: quality, 80 per cent; cost, 20 per cent.
Eligibility Open to architects, landscape architects, designers and artists. All project teams must include a qualified architect or landscape architect. The judges encourage entries from teams who are underrepresented in architecture and design and are keen to hear from artists and collectives who identify as Black, Asian and minority ethnic, disabled and/or people from lower socio-economic backgrounds.
Procedure Two-stage contest: expressions of interest followed by shortlist of up to six teams who will proceed to a design development and community engagement phase. The winning team will continue the engagement process post-competition to further their design.
Requirements First stage requires no design work. Second stage: submission of maximum 10-page proposal document, plus detailed design drawings, key construction details, outline budget, risk assessments and engagement and maintenance plans.
Honorarium Each shortlisted practice will receive £1,000 to further develop their designs and engage in initial participation workshops with target audiences at Dulwich Picture Gallery.
Budget for delivering a design is £80,000, including a maximum designer fee of £10,000.
Judging panel Chantelle Culshaw and Helen Hillyard, Dulwich Picture Gallery; Richard Leeming, London Borough of Southwark; principal urban designer Krishan Nathaniel, Harrow Council; artist Yinka Ilori; Binki Taylor, The Brixton Project.
Other deadlines and dates Shortlist announced, week of 23 September 2024. Second stage submissions, 13 November 2024. Winner announced, December 2024.
To apply or find out more, go to the competition website
Competition contact info@londonfestivalofarchitecture.org
Project competition
Buildner launches competition for sustainable royal residence with community and educational facilities near Fes
Registration deadline: 14 November 2024
Competition organiser Buildner is inviting architects and designers to design a luxury ‘multifunctional architectural complex’ near Fes in Morocco.
The 27ha site is part of an historic estate owned by client the Alaoui Moroccan royal family and has the potential to expand by an additional 13ha in the future.
Designs are expected to include separate living quarters for the family and eight to 10 luxury guest suites or houses, staff accommodation, hospitality and wellness facilities including a spa, traditional Moroccan hammam and café, recreational, sports and education facilities and event and exhibition spaces.
Proposals for outside should include gardens, walkways, animal husbandry areas and an infinity pool. The site has good road connections but no electricity or water supply, ‘necessitating the installation of solar panels and water reservoir systems to meet the needs of a self-sustaining complex’.
Designs should ‘respect the past while building a resilient, sustainable future [and] embody the essence of traditional Moroccan architecture, married seamlessly with modern sustainable practices’.
According to the client, ‘the project should take a definitive stance on how luxury can be both exclusive for the customer and inclusive for the community… Projects should illustrate how modern luxury and convenience can coexist with sustainable living, rooted in Islamic values of modesty and respect for nature.’
Estimated budget is €1.5 million. The client has expressed an intention to realise the project, with all winning designs considered.
Eligibility Competition is open to all. No professional qualification is required. Design proposals can be developed individually or by teams (four team members maximum).
Requirements Four A2 landscape-orientated presentation boards (must not exceed 10MB per board) with sketches, renderings, plans, sections, elevations, diagrams and/or other presentation tools (no video) to explain the proposal.
Prizes 1st prize, €7,000; 2nd prize, €2,500; 3rd prize, €500. All winning designs will be considered for realisation.
Registration fees From €80.
Judging panel Includes Lei Zheng, Zaha Hadid Architects; Sam Brown, O’DonnellBrown; Yang Fei, Field Object Lab; Roxanne Kaye, SAOTA; Marta Maccaglia, Asociación Semillas; Lera Samovich, Fala Atelier; Tom Schroeder, Patkau Architects; Liwei Shen, SASAKI; Francesca Perani, Francesca Perani Enterprise.
Other dates Submissions, 11.59pm, 12 December 2024. Winners announced, 19 February 2025.
To enter or find out more, go the competition website
Competition contact contact@buildner.com
Project contest
RIBA launches international competition to find ‘specialist and worthy design team’ for a bold, fitting and lasting memorial to 72 victims of the 2017 fire
Deadline (Phase 1) 12 noon, 18 September 2024
The Grenfell Tower Memorial Commission and RIBA are looking for a team to design a memorial on the site of Grenfell Tower in North Kensington, London.
The Memorial Commission, which is made up of ten community representatives, wants to create a bold, fitting and lasting memorial to remember the 72 victims who lost their lives in, and those whose lives were forever changed by, the Grenfell Tower fire on 14 June 2017.
The Commission includes five bereaved family members, three former residents of Grenfell Tower and Grenfell Walk who lost their homes, and two residents from the surrounding Lancaster West Estate, ensuring the bereaved have majority representation.
Teams are being asked to demonstrate their relevant, professional and specialist expertise, including architecture, landscape architecture and structural and mechanical engineering and have strong experience of working collaboratively with communities.
A shortlist of up to five teams will be asked to prepare the design approach they would take if appointed. With direct input from the Grenfell community, the final team is expected to be selected and announced in spring 2025. It is anticipated that the memorial design should be sufficiently developed, in partnership with the community, to allow for a planning application in 2027.
In November 2023, the Grenfell Tower Memorial Commission published its second report, detailing the Grenfell community's wishes for a permanent memorial. The report called on the government to honour its earlier commitments and fulfil its moral duty to deliver all 16 of the Commission’s recommendations, which include:
- The Grenfell community must always be central to decisions about the memorial.
- The memorial must be a peaceful, sacred space for individual and communal remembrance and reflection.
- The design must reflect the diverse faiths and cultural backgrounds of the Grenfell community.
- The memorial should include a garden, a monument or other structure, and options for commemorating the names of those lost, featuring art, water and light.
The site designated for the memorial is approximately 3,400 square metres (0.34ha) and is surrounded by a variety of open landscape and public realm spaces that will provide the setting to the memorial and key points of access.
‘Through this process, we intend to identify and appoint a specialist and worthy design team,’ said the Commission’s representatives. ‘A team that has proven experience of working on sensitive and community-focused projects and who can clearly demonstrate the integrity with which they will approach this vital task.’
Jane Duncan, RIBA competitions architect adviser, past president of RIBA and chair of RIBA’s Fire Safety Expert Advisory Group since 2017, said: ‘This selection process is a wonderful opportunity to present your most well-rounded team and express your capabilities, your openness, your imagination, and actually, also, your humanity. We look forward to hearing from you.’
This is a competitive procedure with negotiation made up of two phases: selection questionnaires/submissions followed by invitations to tender (five candidates).
Evaluation criteria will be released at Phase 2. Estimated total value is £6 million to £8 million.
Eligibility UK-based candidates should be registered with the Landscape Institute and Architects Registration Board (ARB). Overseas-based candidates should be registered with an equivalent regulatory body.
Requirements Phase 1 submission documents must cover a team’s motivation for participating, their experience and design team and their ability to work in partnership with the Grenfell community, plus project examples. Phase 2’s five shortlisted teams will refine their preliminary designs using insights from the Grenfell community. According to the brief, ‘teams will visualise elements of their proposals that are relevant with or without the Tower in place, the focus being to select the right design team rather than to finalise a specific memorial design’.
Honorarium £20,000 plus VAT for each shortlisted team.
Evaluation panel Expected to be made up of ‘representatives best placed to support the evaluation of a community led memorial’, including the Grenfell Tower Memorial Commission, independent design and technical advisors, commercial and project delivery teams.
Other dates Phase 2 shortlist, 15 November 2024. Contract, 1 April 2025 to 30 July 2027, with a possibility to extend.
To apply or find out more, go to the competition website
Competition contact RIBA Competitions, 020 7307 5355, riba.competitions@riba.org
Competition
FLEMING CENTRE, ST MARY’S HOSPITAL, LONDON
RIBA contest calls for architect practices with exceptional design skills to deliver £30 million state-of-the-art medical research centre in Paddington
Deadline: 12 noon, 7 August 2024
The RIBA has launched a design contest on behalf of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust seeking an architect to design the Fleming Centre, a life sciences facility that will be located on the St Mary's Hospital site in Paddington, London.
The centre will be at the heart of the global Fleming Initiative, an innovative and collaborative new approach led by the Trust and Imperial College London, with HRH Prince of Wales as its patron, to tackle anti-microbial resistance (AMR) around the world.
At the centre, scientists will work alongside clinicians, patients, members of the public and policy makers to scope, test and scale solutions so the new building will need to be purposefully designed to encourage the public to engage with world-leading science, policy and behavioural change research, ensuring new solutions work for local contexts.
The centre will be a site for behavioural insights and social science research and policy making, as well as a place for impact partners, visiting academics and citizen collaborators.
According to the brief, ‘co-location of multiple disciplines in one building is key to the Fleming Centre’s success. The building must actively work to support interdisciplinary collaboration, breaking down silos and boundaries where possible’. Facilities will include a discovery centre, clinical research facility, research laboratories and a mix of open workstations and enclosed offices and meeting rooms.
The successful architect will develop the design proposals through RIBA stages 2 to 7, with the design team appointed directly by the ICHT up to the end of RIBA stage 4, then novated to the main contractor. Evaluation criteria: 80 per cent, quality; 20 per cent, price.
The centre is due to open in late 2028, helping mark the centenary of the discovery of penicillin at the hospital by Sir Alexander Fleming. It will be the first new building to open on the St Mary’s site in the coming years and forms part of a wider redevelopment of the hospital site.
‘We are looking forward to collaborating with visionary architects to create a centre that will inspire and facilitate global change in healthcare,’ said Tim Orchard, chief executive, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. ‘It will also be the first completed building in the redeveloped St Mary’s Hospital, demonstrating our vision to protect St Mary’s position as a world-class trauma hospital and a centre for life-saving research.’
Build cost £30 million.
Procedure Competitive procedure with negotiation: up to five teams will be shortlisted and invited to participate in the design phase.
Honorarium £15,000 for each of five shortlisted teams.
Evaluation panel (Phase 2) Jo Wright, RIBA competition architect adviser, Perkins and Will; Lisa Jamieson, public engagement consultant, formerly head of engaging science at Wellcome; Ara Darzi, chair of Fleming Initiative. Westminster Council representative to be confirmed.
Requirements Phase 1: standard selection questionnaire. Phase 2: invitation to participate in negotiation and submit final tender. Phase 2 design requirements: three A1 sheets; design report (maximum 20 single sides of A4 or double-side equivalent); statement on costs/high level appraisal of the headline budget; competitive fee proposal (to be broken down into RIBA work stages).
Other dates Shortlist notifications, week of 2 September 2024. Submission of final tenders (with design concepts), 13 November 2024. Contract award, week of 6 January 2025.
To register and find out more, go the competition website
Buyer contact RIBA Competitions, 020 7307 5355, riba.competitions@riba.org
Contract
THE ABBEY OF ST EDMUND, WEST SUFFOLK
Heritage team sought for new visitor centre and restoration works at Bury St Edmunds site, once home to a grand Benedictine monastery
Deadline: 3pm, 20 August 2024
West Suffolk Council is looking for an architect, lead consultant and heritage consultant to support the round 1 development phase of the restoration and redevelopment of the 11th century Bury St Edmunds Abbey site.
The council, St Edmundsbury Cathedral and English Heritage have come together as members of The Abbey of St Edmund Heritage Partnership to develop and deliver the ‘The Abbey of St Edmund: A Millennium of English History in West Suffolk’ project.
Bury St Edmunds Abbey was once one of the largest monasteries in England. The remains date from the 11th century and the abbey was closed by Henry VIII in 1539 during the Dissolution. The site was home to the shrine of St Edmund, the focal point for pilgrims across western Christendom, and is where the germination of the Magna Carta began. According to the brief it also provides ‘a rare assemblage of monastic remains in an urban location which still demonstrates in its layout the symbiotic relationship between the Abbey and the town’.
Phase 1 is National Lottery Heritage Funded and the design brief outcomes include the creation of a new Abbey Welcome and Heritage Centre, the repair, reuse and extension of a Georgian coach house known as the Anslem Building and the completion of a west cloister to connect the heritage centre to the cathedral. An accessible path network through the abbey remains is also required as are conservation and repair works of the abbey ruins, the Abbot’s Palace, the Norman Tower and the Refectory. Preparation and submission of statutory consents are also required for Phase 2, which the appointed team is expected to also provide services for. Phase 1 is scheduled from September 2024 to December 2025; Phase 2 application will be around February 2026 with delivery beginning July 2026. Estimated total value of the contract is £500,000.
Evaluation criteria and eligibility Experience of similar work at an equivalent complexity and heritage significance, 15 per cent; proposed team, 15 per cent; understanding of the brief and how objectives will be met, 30 per cent; methodology of proposed development stage programme, 20 per cent; price, 20 per cent.
Procedure Open procedure.
Location Suffolk.
Other dates Award of contract, 13 September 2024.
To apply or find out more, see the contract notice
Buyer contact Zia Quader, West Suffolk Council, 01284 757310, zia.quader@westsuffolk.gov.uk
Contract
Multidisciplinary team sought to develop an ‘exemplar process and design code’ for the Lancashire seaside resort
Deadline: 12 noon, 29 July 2024
Blackpool Council is on the hunt for a multidisciplinary consultancy team to deliver innovative design codes for the Lancashire town.
Located on the Fylde Coast Peninsula in north west England, Blackpool Council Unitary Authority covers an area of around 35km and has 11.2km of seafront. It attracts around 20 million visitors a year.
According to the specification, the town ‘grew rapidly at the turn of the 20th century, after the arrival of the railway line in 1846, with a period of phenomenal development leaving a legacy of high quality late Victorian architecture, including the iconic Blackpool Tower, piers and Promenade. Successive decades saw the introduction of the Winter Gardens, Pleasure Beach and Golden Mile, along with dense holiday guest houses and small hotels in a grid-iron pattern of terraced streets behind the seafront’.
Since the 1970s, however, visitor number have declined significantly, having a profound effect on the town and resulting in ‘an extremely dysfunctional and unbalanced housing supply in Blackpool’s inner area, which is now dominated by poor quality bedsits and flats and houses in multiple occupation’. Blackpool is the most deprived local authority in England.
The council was recently allocated funding to participate in the Design Code Pathfinder Programme 2024 – 2025 by the Office for Place at the Department for Levelling Up Housing and Communities. The Office for Place supports the creation and stewardship of more beautiful and sustainable, popular and healthy places and helps local authorities to set clearer quality targets for new development.
The design codes are expected to encourage investment and development in inner Blackpool and support levelling up and regeneration in line with the town’s Local Plan Parts 1 and 2 and with its Marton Moss Neighbour Plan. Marton Moss lies to the south of the borough. The focus will be on residential development and street design, with a chance to explore coding for non-residential areas too, including the Blackpool Airport Enterprise Zone.
According to the brief, proposed design codes should address key planning challenges in Blackpool, which include ‘delivering quality development and place-making in an area with significant viability [issues]… quality homes and neighbourhoods [that] improve the life chances of Blackpool’s inner area communities… [and] maximising all opportunities to develop a greener Blackpool’.
Evaluation criteria for bids: 50 per cent, quality; 20 per cent, social value; 30 per cent, price. Project completion is required by 31 March 2025.
Eligibility Experience of developing design coding within an urban context and how that might apply to the Blackpool context. Three references are required from previous design code commissions.
Procedure Open procedure.
Location Blackpool, Lancashire.
Other dates Award of contract, August 2024. Contract, 31 August 2024 to 31 March 2025.
To apply or find out more, see the contract notice
Buyer contact Jenna Douthwaite, Blackpool Council, 01253 477752, jenna.douthwaite@blackpool.gov.uk
Project competition
NELSON-ATKINS MUSEUM OF ART, KANSAS CITY
Missouri institution seeks architect for expansion and ‘fascinating proposition’
Deadline To be announced in autumn 2024
The US Nelson-Atkins Musuem of Art has appointed UK competition organiser Malcom Reading Consultants (MRC) to launch a six-month open international architectural competition on its behalf in autumn 2024.
The art museum, which is based in Kansas City, Missouri, is recognised nationally and internationally as one of the finest in the US and holds a collection of more than 42,000 art objects. It is best known for its Asian art, European and American paintings, photography, modern sculpture and Native American and Egyptian galleries.
Described as ‘a fascinating proposition for architects who love art and culture’, the institution has plans to expand: ‘Within a generation, projected visitors are likely to reach a million a year so the museum needs to prepare’.
The decision to launch an architecture competition follows a series of studies into the future needs of the museum and the local community carried out by museum planning firm Cooper Robertson.
This is expected to be a two-stage open competition, with designs required at stage two. According to the statement, organisers are looking for proposals that ‘inspire community engagement and attract new audiences through exemplary design that will best position the Nelson-Atkins to serve guests for generations to come’.
MRC has run recent competitions for the Dallas Museum of Art, Houston Endowment, the National Gallery, London, and Powerhouse Parramatta, Sydney.
Details on prizes, judging panel, deadlines and design requirements will be released on launch in autumn 2024. See how to register, below.
Competition contact Architects who would like to be notified at the competition’s launch are invited to send their contact details to nelson-atkins@malcolmreading.com
To find out more, go to the competition organiser’s website
Project competition
FINNISH MUSEUM OF ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN, HELSINKI
Open call for innovative new building design to house Museum of Finnish Architecture and the Design Museum, Helsinki
Stage 1 deadline: 29 August 2024
Finnish real estate company ADM and the City of Helsinki have launched an open international competition to find a design team for a new museum building.
The project, planned to complete in 2030, will house the city’s existing architecture and design museums, which merged earlier this year.
The new Architecture and Design Museum will occupy a vacant former dockside in a UNESCO World Heritage Site buffer zone close to Helsinki’s 18th-century Suomenlinna sea fortress. The historic waterfront is also home to the Market Square, the Orthodox and Lutheran cathedrals and Esplanade Park.
According to the brief, the main objective of the new museum will be ‘democratising the tools of design, drawing on the history and present of Finnish and Nordic architecture and design to guide a programme of public activities that will look at how design thinking and skills are relevant to the challenges we face as individuals and societies in a rapidly changing world.
‘The newly-formed collection… will contain over 900,000 artefacts, including objects, correspondence, models and photographs documenting the work of internationally famed practitioners such as Aino and Alvar Aalto, Eero Aarnio, Maija Isola, Eliel and Eero Saarinen, Paavo Tynell, and design brands such as Marimekko, Nokia and Fiskars.’
Proposals for the 10,050sqm building will need to split public and back-of-house uses equally and include facilities for diverse exhibitions, historical collections, contemporary design, architecture and a wide range of media. Other requirements include spaces for events, conferences, workshops, a library and a waterfront café-restaurant.
Total budget is around €105 million with construction costs capped at €70 million.
The competition is organised in collaboration with the Finnish Association of Architects. Funding of €120 million comes from the City of Helsinki and the State of Finland with a €20 million donation from the Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation and €30 million to be raised by private donors.
Format Two-stage contest. Stage 1, open call, after which three to five entries will be selected. Stage 2, development of concepts into viable proposals.
Stage 1 eligibility Open to individuals and design teams with a lead designer who has completed a university level master’s degree in architecture, has the right to practise as an architect in their country of residence, is a resident of a European Union country or a resident of countries that are parties to the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA 2012). Design teams can include members from countries that do not fall under the scope of the European Union and its procurement legislation.
Stage 1 requirements Maximum of 12, A3 boards showing conceptual-level proposals only, ie with emphasis on the overall concept, rather than detailed plans and sections or photorealistic visualisations.
Honoraria and prizes Each team selected for Stage 2 will receive €50,000 in two instalments: €30,000 at the beginning of Stage 2 and €20,000 on completion. Prizes of €50,000, €35,000 and €25,000 for first, second and third place, with purchase options of €20,000 for the remaining two designs.
Jury panel Mikko Aho (chair) and Juha Lemström (vice chair), both ADM; Gus Casely-Hayford, V&A East; Beatrice Galilee, The World Around; Kaarina Gould, Foundation for the Finnish Museum of Architecture and Design; Salla Hoppu and Anni Sinnemäki, both City of Helsinki; Riitta Kaivosoja, Ministry of Education and Culture, Department for Art and Cultural Policy; Beate Hølmebakk, Manthey Kula Architects; Matti Kuittinen, Aalto University; Mikael Silvanto, AD Museum; Sari Nieminen, Sari Nieminen; Hannu Tikka, APRT Architects.
Other dates Online information session, 24 April 2024 (see competition website link, below). Stage 2 shortlist notifications, December 2024. Stage 2, February to May 2025. Winner announced, September 2025.
To apply or find out more, go to the competition website
Project competition
REINVENTING CITIES 2024 URBAN DESIGN CONTEST
Creative multidisciplinary teams sought for climate-friendly redevelopment of 15 brownfield sites around the world
Deadline Dates vary. For UK project, expressions of interest, 2pm, 5 September 2024.
C40, a network of mayors from 100 cities, has launched the fourth edition of its global competition Reinventing Cities. The contest was set up to encourage the decarbonised urban regeneration of underused brownfield sites.
Organisers are looking for creative multidisciplinary teams - including architects, developers and community groups - to design and develop projects that will serve the needs of local communities and become sustainable city landmarks.
Fifteen cities will participate in 2024. They are Almere, Bilbao, Bologna, Brussels, Glasgow, Milan, New York, Palermo, Renca, Rome, San Antonio, San Francisco, São Paulo, Seattle and Venice.
The only site in the UK is at Applecross Wharf and Baird’s Brae in Glasgow and is part of the city’s Canal Regeneration Action Plan. According to the project brief, proposals ‘should utilise the existing heritage buildings in a vibrant way and create an activity node at this important point on the canal. The project presents an opportunity to unlock the potential of the canal to create a further vibrant neighbourhood for people to live, work and visit’.
Scottish Canals, which owns the site, says it is keen to work with interested parties to create a suitable financial development model with its contribution to be ‘via land ownership solely, with external funding coming from the project providing development capital and ultimately delivering a suitable return to Scottish Canals’.
Winning submissions across all the brownfield sites in the contest are expected to be ‘highly ambitious regarding environmental and social benefits and go beyond business as usual. To date, Reinventing Cities has engaged over 3,500 businesses worldwide with 40 projects under development globally, demonstrating how urban climate leadership and collaboration with the private sector can enable zero-carbon development to serve the needs of local communities’. The competition is supported by Ingka Group.
Procedure Two-phase procedure. Phase 1, expression of interest. Phase 2, restricted to the finalist teams.
Evaluation panel The jury will be set up by the relevant city with the support of C40.
To apply or find out more, go the competition website
For updates on the latest competitions, contests and contracts follow #ribajopportunities @RIBAJ
If you have a competition or contest you want architects to know about, email details to julie.butterworth@riba.org