The Concrete Society Awards celebrate excellence in the use of concrete. The design and construction methods of the submitted projects are carefully considered in person by the judges and the winning projects are announced at The Society's flagship annual event, The Concrete Society Awards Dinner, which is now entering its 55th year.
Below are details of the 2023 winners:
- Outright winner
- Highly commended projects
- Shortlisted entries
Outright winner: 1 New Park Square, Edinburgh
1 New Park Square is the first landmark project for the wider vision of a low-carbon community of working, living and leisure at Edinburgh Park by developer Parabola. The building echoes this philosophy through robust long-lasting materials and low energy in use, supported by the use of an exposed concrete frame.
Highly commended: DAMAC Tower, Nine Elms, London
DAMAC Tower is an example where the client’s aspirations, the architect’s vision and the structural engineer’s skill and experience perfectly aligned to achieve a spectacular design. The site of the development adjacent to major infrastructure in Vauxhall was unlocked for planning to build something that previous development teams could not.
Highly commended: Newlyn Coastal Research & Development, Penzance
This is a field-based pilot project to evaluate the performance of various ecologically enhanced armour units in an intertidal high-energy wave environment. The ecological armour units are designed to encourage the settlement of marine organisms, providing a carbon sink as well as withstanding high-energy wave conditions and thereby stabilising the shoreline.
Highly commended: Osiers Road, Wandsworth
The Osiers Road façade is a showcase in the richness and variety of finish that can be achieved with architectural precast concrete. This multi-finish unitised system, both stunning and cost-effective, creates a striking aesthetic that is sympathetic to the local history and was achieved through careful modelling, bespoke mouldage, multi-stage casting and innovative fixings.
Highly commended: The Salvation Army New THQ, Denmark Hill, London
This is a new flagship five-storey plus basement office, partially embedded into the sloping site and with a large central atrium. Exposed concrete ribbed slabs finished to a high level provide a sustainable, economic, flexible and stunningly attractive space.
Shortlisted: 10 Lewis Cubitt Square, King's Cross
10 Lewis Cubitt Square is a key part of the King’s Cross masterplan. Its distinctive aggregated precast concrete façade forms a civic backdrop to the public realm and surrounding buildings. Beyond the façade, multiple concrete technologies are used throughout – from the slipform core to precast plank floor construction and stair flights, and polished concrete blocks as an exposed architectural finish.
Shortlisted: London Square, Bermondsey
This in-situ black concrete spiralled staircase was complex in nature to construct. It is located centrally in the project in a space where most of the apartments are accessed. The concept was to create a feature out of something that had to be functional. Now completed, it showcases the quality of workmanship and the imaginative design by the architect.
Shortlisted: Plot H7 Elephant Park, Elephant & Castle, London
Plot H7 forms part of the fifth phase of the Elephant Park development in Elephant & Castle, comprising a 25-storey tower and four nine-storey mansion blocks. The reinforced concrete works include jumpform, in-situ and precast columns and twin-wall, with post-tensioned slabs.
Shortlisted: Royal College of Surgeons, London
The redevelopment of the Royal College of Surgeon’s headquarters building in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, weaves together the institution’s rich heritage with a modern flexible environment by construction of a major new concrete-framed structure that is carefully stitched into the historic fabric of the original Grade II* listed Charles Barry building.
Shortlisted: Southsea Coastal Protection Scheme - Frontage 1: Long Curtain Moat
In a 350m stretch of coastal flood defence, the Southsea Coastal Scheme has used a myriad of concrete properties to achieve: a scheme with a 100-year design life in a harsh marine environment; bespoke precast design sympathetic to the historic setting; and enhancements to the public realm.
Shortlisted: The Featherstone Building, Old Street, London
The Featherstone Building is an exemplar reinforced concrete framed commercial building close to Old Street station up to 11 storeys in height, with exposed concrete walls, columns and flat slabs, cast in pipework in slabs and using a precast glass-fibre-reinforced concrete brick façade.
Shortlisted: Tower Hamlets Town Hall, London
Tower Hamlets Town Hall involves the reinvention and extension of the Grade II-listed former Royal London Hospital into the headquarters for the council. The versatility of concrete has been harnessed in a variety of sustainable and innovative ways – both within the historic fabric and in the new build extension.
