Friday 20 Nov 2020
Five triumph as next phase of railway station design competition is announced
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- National
Network Rail and RIBA Competitions have revealed the names of the five design practices selected to compete in the next phase of their competition to shape the future of Britain’s railway stations.
Entrants to the competition were asked to reimagine small to medium-sized stations, which make up 80% of all those on Britain’s railway. More than 200 submissions were received, from designers based in 34 different countries. Five will go through to the next stage (listed in alphabetical order):
- ATKINS, London with PRD Ltd.
- Miguel Angel Carrasco Arquitetura, Rio de Janeiro
- Pascall+Watson, London
- 7N Architects, Edinburgh
- WORKSHOP Architecture, Toronto
The selected practices will now develop their proposals for final judging in February 2021. At the end of that process, up to three will be chosen to be taken forward for development.
Commenting on the announcement, Anthony Dewar, Head of Buildings and Architecture at Network Rail, said: “At the launch of the competition we were hoping to receive some creative and forward-thinking designs and my fellow judging panellists and I were happily inundated with submissions that met that brief. It was a tough decision to narrow the field down to just a handful to go through to the next stage, but we were particularly impressed and intrigued by the concept proposals put forward by the selected five practices.
“We look forward to seeing how they will develop their ideas to create design solutions which will help Network Rail to improve the experience of both the communities and passengers it serves.”
Rail Minister Chris Heaton-Harris said: “It’s fantastic to see from the sheer amount of entries to this competition - and from more than 30 countries – that this challenge has really captured the imagination of designers from right across the globe.
“Harnessing creativity and ambition through competitions like this will ensure the great spirit of design that can be seen in stations right across the country continues. I look forward to seeing these proposals as they progress, as part of our focus on delivering better journeys for passengers.”
Notes to Editors
For further information please contact:
Julia Davies, RIBA Competitions
Julia.Davies@riba.org | 0113 2031490
(For Network Rail) Katherine Sandford-Anderson, Sandford PR
katherine@sandfordpr.com | 07802 481996
- There are more than 2,000 small-to-medium stations across Britain.
- The judging panel is chaired by Lucy Musgrave OBE, (founding director of Publica) and comprises: Jonathan McDowell (director, Matter Architecture), Chris Wise (senior director, Expedition Engineering), Dinah Casson CBE (RDI designer), Victoria Lee (lead programme manager, Design Council), Paul Beaty-Pownall (managing director, BPR Architects Ltd), Sahar Fikouhi (founder, ARki), Anthony Dewar (professional head of buildings and architecture, Network Rail), Frank Anatole (principal architect, Network Rail) and Ian Grimes (principal engineer, Network Rail).
- The competition is organised in three phases, with the first phase involving the anonymous submission of design proposals. Participants in phase 2 each receive an honoraria of £20,000 +VAT to further develop their design concepts. Up to three will be invited to enter into a services contract (phase 3) to develop their design solutions further, with a contract sum of up to £250,000 awarded to each (subject to negotiation).
- The brief for this competition was informed by the findings of the Design Council’s Think Station Report on the design of future local railway stations – which can be found here.
RIBA Competitions
Please ensure RIBA Competitions is credited when mentioning the above competition. RIBA Competitions delivers choice, inspiration and value to clients through expertly run competitive selection processes. The dedicated RIBA Competitions team can help you explore the full potential of your project, for further information visit www.architecture.com/competitions or email RIBA.Competitions@riba.org.
Network Rail – Buildings and Architecture.
The Buildings and Architecture team is responsible for setting the standards, policy and long-term planning for Network Rail’s built environment, ensuring the highest design standards are attained whilst preserving and enhancing the legacy of Britain’s railway.
We run a large and diverse operation; responsible for a wide variety of buildings from iconic stations like London Paddington and Glasgow Central to the signal boxes and maintenance depots that are vital in providing a safe and reliable railway for our passengers.
With an outward-looking and collaborative culture, we work closely with the wider design community to develop our approach to quality, sustainable design. In partnership with the Design Council, we’ve created a framework - ‘Principles of Good Design’ - which describes our long-term vision and ambitions.
It is our mission to deliver a better travelling experience for the millions of passengers who use our railway each day through good design, and to provide world-class infrastructure which will consider the individual whilst connecting the nation. www.networkrail.co.uk
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a global professional membership body that serves its members and society in order to deliver better buildings and places, stronger communities and a sustainable environment. Architecture.com.
Follow @RIBA on Twitter for regular updates www.twitter.com/RIBA
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We own, operate and develop Britain's railway infrastructure; that's 20,000 miles of track, 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations. We run 20 of the UK's largest stations while all the others, over 2,500, are run by the country's train operating companies.
Usually, there are almost five million journeys made in the UK and over 600 freight trains run on the network. People depend on Britain's railway for their daily commute, to visit friends and loved ones and to get them home safe every day. Our role is to deliver a safe and reliable railway, so we carefully manage and deliver thousands of projects every year that form part of the multi-billion pound Railway Upgrade Plan, to grow and expand the nation's railway network to respond to the tremendous growth and demand the railway has experienced - a doubling of passenger journeys over the past 20 years.
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