The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has announced the 20 winners of the 2025 RIBA National Awards, recognising the most significant contributions to architecture across the UK. Presented annually since 1966, the awards celebrate design excellence and provide a valuable snapshot of evolving architectural, cultural, and social trends. This year's winning projects span the length and breadth of the country, from the Isle of Wight to Scotland and Northern Ireland, and represent a wide range of typologies and scales, from major institutional buildings to small-scale residential and community-focused interventions.
Several of the awarded projects demonstrate architecture's capacity to address social needs and foster meaningful change. Housing developments like Appleby Blue Almshouse and Hazelmead, Bridport Cohousing, are designed to support community living and social connection, while initiatives such as HMP & YOI Stirling and Hope Street in Southampton rethink justice-related infrastructure with a focus on care and rehabilitation. Alongside these, sensitive conservation efforts, such as the restoration of Elizabeth Tower in London and Fairburn Tower in Scotland, highlight the continued relevance of heritage work. Reflecting on this diverse body of work, RIBA Awards Group Chair Simon Henley emphasised the evolving role of architects and the growing importance of care, continuity, and social impact in contemporary practice.
The 20 RIBA National Award 2025 winners are presented as follows, along with descriptions provided by the organization:
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- A highly detailed retrofit of a lifeless 1970s office building into a richly layered, sustainable workplace.
Aldourie Castle Estate / Ptolemy Dean Architects
- An elegant and exemplary conservation of a Grade A listed estate using local materials and crafts.
Appleby Blue Almshouse / Witherford Watson Mann Architects
- A contemporary almshouse in Southwark, cleverly designed to reduce social isolation for older generations
Citizens House / Archio
- A community-led development of 11 affordable homes in a former backyard garage site in Lewisham.
Costa's Barbers / Brisco Loran and Arrant Industries
- A Battersea shop unit has been imaginatively converted into a flexible home and office.
Elizabeth Tower / Purcell
- Housing the symbolic bell and timepiece of the nation (Big Ben), the most comprehensive restoration of Elizabeth Tower in 160 years is a masterpiece in conservation and craftsmanship.
Fairburn Tower / Simpson & Brown for The Landmark Trust
- A meticulous conservation effort has restored a dilapidated Category A-listed structure using traditional craftsmanship.
Hastings House / Hugh Strange Architects
- An inventive and finely detailed extension to a late 19th-century house, working at the intersection of ethics and aesthetics.
Hazelmead, Bridport Cohousing / Barefoot Architects
- 53 timber-framed affordable homes form a sustainable, co-housing development in Bridport that is designed to embrace community.
HMP & YOI Stirling / Holmes Miller
- A therapeutic, trauma-informed women's prison that provides spaces that promote dignity, equality and meaningful rehabilitation.
Hope Street / Snug Architects
- A quietly radical model for supporting women in the justice system, the modest architecture balances opposing needs to leave a lasting impact.
London College of Fashion / Allies and Morrison
- A monumental piece of civic architecture, the new LCF brings together six former sites into one "vertical campus" on Stratford's East Bank waterfront.
Niwa House / Takero Shimazaki Architects
- A timber-framed, tranquil, Japanese-style home designed to be fully wheelchair accessible.
Sheerness Dockyard Church / Hugh Broughton Architects
- A twice fire-damaged Grade-II* listed church has been exquisitely restored and transformed into a community facility.
Sidcup Storyteller / DRDH Architects
- A bold new red-brick library, cinema, and co-working space has become the centrepiece of the high-street regeneration of Sidcup.
Student Hub, Queens Business School Belfast / TODD Architects
- An innovative and sustainable learning space that blends sensitively into the surrounding woodlands.
The Discovery Centre (DISC) / Herzog & de Meuron / BDP
- A welcoming, "triangular" medical research facility for AstraZeneca, blending thoughtful placemaking with scientific innovation.
The Old Byre / Gianni Botsford Architects
- This conversion of two understated farm buildings on the Isle of Wight creates a new home while also offering residency and working spaces for visiting artists.
Triangle House / Artefact
- A playful and inventive extension to a 1950s suburban home in Surrey
Young V&A / AOC Architecture and De Matos Ryan
- The former Museum of Childhood has been reimagined into a light, bright, and energising cultural destination for young visitors.
