Sunderland's The Beam and Tombola House named among North East's architectural masterpieces

Tombola House, the new home for the globally successful online bingo firm, and The Beam, the centrepiece of the first stage of development of the former Vaux brewery site in the city centre, are among four regional projects awarded Royal Institute of British Architects Awards (RIBA) announced today, Tuesday, August 17.

Also honoured are the Lower Mountjoy Teaching Centre in Durham and The Bis in Hartlepool.

Tombola House, by Ryder Architecture, also won the RIBA North East Client of the Year award.

The four projects were selected by the expert jury, who visited all six shortlisted projects.

RIBA North East Award winners will now be considered for a highly-coveted RIBA National Award in recognition of their architectural excellence, which will be announced on Thursday, September 9.

The shortlist for the RIBA Stirling Prize for the best building of the year will be drawn from the RIBA National Award-winning projects later in the year.

Regional Jury Chair Ben Elliott, said the standard of this year’s award winners was evidence of the hard work in development and regeneration being carried out throughout the North East: “Regeneration and learning are at the heart of all the winning projects, and across the North East this is a recognisable area of strength,” he said.

"The RIBA Awards North East winning projects are unique in form whilst flexible and adaptable in their design. They relate to their wider contexts, developing a sense of identity in the architecture in order to foster new working communities.

"They reflect the continuing quality of design seen in the region, and the jury are delighted to see how they have come to demonstrate resilience and positivity for the future.”

Further special awards have been awarded for Client of the Year, Project Architect of the Year (sponsored by Taylor Maxwell) and Building of the Year

As well as Tombola House receiving Client of the Year, The Bis in Hartlepool was also named Building of the Year and its designer, David Pogson of Group Ginger, was named Project Architect of the Year.

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