Urban Splash shortlisted for the world's biggest design prize

The company’s Park Hill scheme in Sheffield has been considered for the award, which is presented by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and puts architectural achievements on the world stage. The judges select architects and developers who they believe have delivered original, imaginative and well executed designs, which meet the needs of their users and are the pinnacle of current architectural talent.

Urban Splash creative director and co founder Jonathan Falkingham MBE said: “We are delighted that Park Hill is on the Stirling shortlist. The regeneration of this troubled building has demonstrated that with the right partners, post war modernism can be successfully reinvented for contemporary audiences, adding significantly to the tense debate that surrounds our post war heritage"

The Manchester based developers took on the challenge of developing Park Hill in 2008. The Grade II Listed building is Europe’s largest Listed structure and was built in the 1960s with a view to becoming a social utopia which would help clear the post war slums. By the 1990s its fate had changed and most of the 900 homes there had been left empty meaning it had become synonymous with anti social behaviour, magnifying the challenge of redeveloping it.

Urban Splash, with its track record of transforming the fortunes of similar buildings around the UK were undeterred and have already moved buyers into the building’s first phase, as Jonathan continued: “Combine the challenges around the physical state of Park Hill and the perception of it and its clear to see that it has been a challenge to reintroduce this building as a contemporary place to live.

“In partnering with Hawkins Brown and Studio Egret, plus English Heritage we have helped breathe new life into the building. Our architects worked with the existing template and enhanced it through the use of modern materials and designs.

“The people now living and working there are testament enough to the work that’s been done, but the Stirling Prize announcement compounds them. It reinforces our belief that great design can help resurrect unloved spaces and create new communities.

Urban Splash has won 339 awards to date for its commitment to architecture, regeneration and good design and is the most decorated developer by the RIBA having been awarded 51 accolades from the body – including the coveted Crown Conservation Prize for its redevelopment of the Midland Hotel in Morecambe.

The company’s track record includes the transformation of some of the country’s most desolate spaces into places where people can live, work and play. Schemes in Manchester include Smithfield and Ducie House in the Northern Quarter as well as New Islington, where it is taking the Cardroom Estate and creating homes – including the Will Alsop designed Chips building, a park, a marina and from September – a new primary school.

Concluded Urban Splash Chairman Tom Bloxham MBE: “We are thrilled with this news. Park Hill’s place on this shortlist shows that great architecture doesn't have to be the preserve of the rich and that schemes like it have their place amongst design's elite.”

The Stirling Prize ceremony will be held at Central St Martin’s College in London in the autumn.

ENDS

About Urban Splash Award winning property developer Urban Splash is the country’s leading regeneration company and has delivered over 60 mixed use schemes including residential property of all tenures, commercial office, retail and a hotel.

Founded in 1993 by Tom Bloxham MBE and Jonathan Falkingham MBE, the company is based in Manchester with regional offices in Liverpool, Leeds, Birmingham, Bristol, Sheffield and Plymouth.

Urban Splash has delivered challenging and exciting regeneration projects across the country including Fort Dunlop in Birmingham, Chimney Pot Park in Salford, Castlefield and New Islington in Manchester, The Midland Hotel in Morecambe, Royal William Yard in Plymouth, Lister Mills in Bradford, Rotunda in Birmingham, Matchworks in Garston and the Ropewalks in Liverpool.

The company has invested over half a billion pounds creating thousands of new homes and jobs in over four million sq ft of space.

The company has received 339 awards to date for its commitment to architecture, design, regeneration and business success including 51 RIBA Awards the most won by a property developer.

About the RIBA Stirling Prize The RIBA Stirling Prize was born in 1996 out of its predecessor The Building of the Year Award. The Building of the Year Award had been running since 1988 and the winner was chosen by the RIBA President from a handful of National Award winners. This was thought of as neither transparent nor democratic. The aim with the Stirling Prize was that the winner should be decided in an unbiased way, with different juries visiting the ‘midlist’ and shortlist.

The new prize was named after James Stirling, the great British architect who died in 1992. The aim was that the Stirling Prize would be for architecture what the Booker Prize was for literature, and a £20,000 cash prize for the winning architects made the prize covetable as well as prestigious. From 2000 to 2011 the Stirling Prize ceremony was broadcast on television, attracting household broadcasting names including Grand Designs’ Kevin McCloud.

A ringing endorsement by then Prime Minister Tony Blair, who was invited to present the 1999 prize, further enhanced the reputation of the Stirling Prize. At short notice he had to pull out, but sent an enthusiastic video message to the audience in 2000. Incidentally, his acolytes Culture Secretary Chris Smith and Peter Mandelson had presented previous prizes. The prize was largely instrumental in turning the tide of negative public opinion against modern architecture that had existed during the 1980s and 1990s. By the late 1990s ‘Cool Britannia’ had replaced conservatism (both with a big and small ‘c’) and an improving British economy had made design cool again.

Every year the prize is presented to the architects of the building that has made the greatest contribution to the evolution of architecture over the past year. The prize is for the best building in the UK by RIBA chartered architects and International Fellows, or in the rest of the EU by an RIBA chartered architect.