Ten Top Scottish Buildings Receive RIBA Award

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) announced the recipients of the 2011 RIBA Awards on Thursday 19 May. Ten exceptional buildings in Scotland were recognised for their architectural excellence.

The winning projects ranged from a mental health unit to the superb restoration of an historic art gallery. Awards were presented over the length and breadth of Scotland, from Castle Douglas to Coll.

The RIBA Awards for Scotland are administered by the Institute's sister organisation, The Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland.

The Scottish buildings that won the RIBA Awards were:

• Centre for the Scottish War Blinded, Kirknewton, Page Park Architect
  
• The Houl, Castle Douglas, Simon Winstanley Architects
  
• McManus Galleries, Dundee, Page Park Architects
  
• Raasay Hall, Isle of Raasay, Dualchas Building Design
  
• Scotstoun House, South Queensferry, HAA Design
  
• Shettleston Housing Association Offices, Glasgow, Elder and Cannon
  
• Speirs Locks Studios, Glasgow, Malcolm Fraser Architects
  
• Stratheden Mental Health Unit, Cupar, Richard Murphy Architects
  
• Tigh-Na-Cladach (House by the Shore), Dunoon, Gokay Deveci, Chartered Architect
  
• The White House, Isle of Coll, W T Architecture

The judges for Scotland were George Ferguson CBE PPRIBA, David Dunbar PPRIAS and Daphne Thissen, Cultural Attache at the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The new RIAS President, Sholto Humphries, commented:

Ten awards is a fantastic result and a record for Scotland. The RIBA Awards are UK recognition of excellence in architecture and from this result it is clear that Scottish architectural talent is competing strongly, both within the UK and more widely. The diversity of these projects and the extraordinary quality of all those that were shortlisted (17) says a lot for the creativity and skill of the current generation of architects here. We are in the midst of a very difficult time for the construction industry with public commissioning more and more being the province of big business. These awards demonstrate that by engaging with an architect, clients can achieve tremendous buildings that improve our communities, enhance people's lives and, as the modest budgets for many of these projects demonstrate, are very good value for money.

Judged on a regional basis and approved by a national awards jury, the Scottish buildings are amongst 97 buildings in the UK and Europe which have received RIBA Awards today (89 in the UK and 8 in the rest of the EU). The shortlist for the RIBA Stirling Prize, for the building of the year, will be drawn from the 97 RIBA Award winners.

RIBA President Ruth Reed said:

For 46 years the RIBA Awards have reflected the health of British architecture. This year's winners show that in spite of a terrible worldwide recession, many exceptional buildings have been, and continue to be, built in the UK and overseas. Winning projects demonstrate that even in constrained times committed clients working with talented architects can achieve architectural excellence.

These well-designed buildings will add huge value to the lives, prosperity, health and pride of their owners, users and communities and I am delighted with this year's selection. We are promised an interesting RIBA Stirling Prize shortlist.