Two iconic modern Bristol buildings and a new social housing scheme in the city have won major architectural awards.
Aerospace Bristol, the showpiece aviation museum which opened last October and houses Concorde, landed the highly acclaimed South West Project of the Year accolade at the RICS South West Awards while Southmead Hospital’s Brunel Building has been honoured with two RIBA awards.
Challender Court, a social housing scheme in Henbury won two awards at the RIBA Awards, including the Sustainability Award.
Aerospace Bristol also scooped the Tourism & Leisure accolade. The museum comprises a Grade II listed hangar housing the historic Bristol Aero collection, including 8,000 artefacts and a Bristol-built aircraft.
There is also the Concorde building, a new metal mass housing the star of the show; Concorde Alpha Foxtrot, the last to be built and to fly. The museum tells the story of the shared creativity at Filton through the ages. The tourism and leisure value of this project has provided the local community with extensive benefits.
RICS Judges praised the team behind the Aerospace Bristol project for creating a stand-out ‘Project of the Year’ winner to enhance tourism and leisure in the South West. The Judges were also impressed with the project team’s commitment to ensure sustainability and environmental benefits remained at the forefront of the project.
Chair of the RICS Awards, South West judging panel, James Wakeham FRICS said: “Aerospace Bristol is so much more than an interactive family experience; it is a landmark, a unique project that has set a new bench-mark for tourism and leisure in the South West. Not only will it bring major economic benefits to the area, but also historic engagement.”
He added: “All of this year’s winners are testament to the successful collaboration of the talented teams behind them. Together, their complimentary skills and exceptional vision has not only created some remarkable built schemes which the South West can be immensely proud of, but they are also having a profoundly positive impact on their local communities.”
Southmead Hospital’s Brunel Building, designed by Bristol architects BDP for North Bristol NHS Trust, also won the RIBA South West Client of the Year 2018. 
Nick Fairham, Architect Director at BDP in Bristol, said: “It is extremely rewarding for the team, the Trust and the hospital to have been given this recognition. Southmead was designed in partnership with the staff and great consideration was given to patients’ needs and expectations. We wanted people to feel welcome and reassured and we believe that Southmead is a world-class healthcare facility. Credit should rightly be assigned to North Bristol Healthcare Trust whose ambition and forward-thinking approach drove this project and encouraged the development of a new care model.”
Tricia Down, North Bristol NHS trust head of sustainable health and capital planning and the PFI project director, who was also at the award ceremony, said: “We are very pleased to win both these Excellence awards for the Brunel Building at Southmead. We all enjoy working in the hospital and acknowledge how well it supports the patients and our visitors. We worked closely with BDP; the North Bristol Healthcare Trust and our partners should be equally pleased with this recognition.”
RIBA said the Brunel Building at Southmead Hospital was “an outstanding response to the North Bristol NHS Trust’s brief to deliver an exceptionally sustainable healthcare facility, delivering long term environmental, social and financial benefits for patients, visitors, staff and the local community”.
“This vast and highly complex building is a testament to the client’s vision and the architect’s skill in interpreting this to deliver a hospital which serves all its users so well,” RIBA added.
This month marks four years since the official opening of the Brunel Building. The two-week operation saw 540 patients transfer from the old Southmead and Frenchay sites into the new 800-bed hospital with staff, volunteers, ambulance service and military going that extra mile to ensure patient safety was maintained.
The Brunel Building has since won a number of other important awards including Best Large Hospital 2017 in the European Healthcare Awards, and a Civic Trust award for its contribution to the city and the community, whilst it has also achieved BREEAM Excellent accreditation.
Nick and his design team at BDP in Bristol are currently working on a number of hospitals and healthcare facilities in the South West and Wales, including the largest construction project currently underway in Wales, the £350 million, 470-bed Grange University Hospital in Gwent; and Mayhill’s combined GP’s practice, community centre and nursery in Swansea, whilst they are awaiting the next stage of Musgrove Park, a surgical and critical care unit in Taunton.
The judges’ citation on Challender Court, designed by Bristol architects Emmett Russell, said it “demonstrates a creative response to the UK’s housing crisis, making excellent use of a constrained, brownfield Bristol City Council site to provide eight one bed apartments which respond to a brief to be robust, low maintenance and low energy.
“Challender Court provides an excellent reference for the sensitive redevelopment of brownfield sites; whilst so much of the industry effort is focussed on large scale development, this scheme demonstrates that an intelligent ‘boutique‘ approach has the potential to unlock even the most unpromising sites, to provide attractive, robust and sustainable homes.”
All RICS category winners will go on to compete against other regional winners at the national RICS Awards Grand Final on 2 November 2018 at The Brewery in London, for the chance to be crowned the overall UK winner in their respective category.
