Back     Latest news from Green Building Press    Subscribe to our newsletter

Cobtun House Wins RIBA Sustainability Award

Posted: 17/10/2005

Cobtun House, Worcestershire, built of mud, straw and corrugated iron, and designed by Associated Architects, has scooped this year’s RIBA Sustainability Award. The announcement was made at a special awards ceremony for The RIBA Stirling Prize in association with The Architects’ Journal at the Royal Museum in Edinburgh.

RIBA Sustainability Award rewards the building which demonstrates most elegantly and durably the principles of sustainable architecture. The winner was presented with a cheque for £5,000.

The RIBA Sustainability Award judges – Bill Gething, Bill Bordass, Jeremy Till and Tony Chapman - had this to say: “For sheer vision, the seamless and unobtrusive way the design was tailored to the client’s needs, and the commitment and persistence of architect and client, the judges thought Cobtun House was a worthy winner of the RIBA Sustainability Award. Not only were some aspects of its construction truly innovative - particularly in the use of materials such as earth, sand and aggregate from the site itself - the architect and the contractors so entered into the spirit of the job that they made a point of arriving on site by public transport or bike.

“The outcome is inspirational and pleases not only the client and his family and friends, but is regularly visited by people keen to learn all about sustainable construction.”

Cobtun House beat off competition from three other buildings: Headquarters of Cambridge Federation of Women's Institutes - ellis
miller; Jubilee Library, Brighton - Bennetts Associates with Lomax Cassidy + Edwards; Weston Adventure Playground - Finch Macintosh Architects.

The full building credits are: Cobtun House, Worcester
Architect: Associated Architects
Client: Nicholas Worsley QC
Structural Engineer: Shire Consulting
Services and Environmental
Consultants: LEDA
Environmental Biologist: Christopher Betts
Cob Wall: Kevin McCabe
Contractor: G F Hill Malvern Ltd
Gross internal area: 246 sq m
Contract Value: £255,000
Photographer: Martine Hamilton-Knight

The RIBA Journal Sustainability Award was established in 2000. Previous winners include Stock Orchard Street, London N7 by Sarah Wigglesworth Architects, Bill Dunster Architects’ BedZED, Chetwood Associates’ Sainsbury’s at Greenwich, Michael Hopkins and Partners’ Jubilee Campus, University of Nottingham and, last year, The Cardboard School, Westborough Primary School, Westcliff-on-Sea by Cottrell + Vermeulen Architecture

To view the awards go to www.architecture.com or www.ajplus.co.uk .

Green Building Press  
 

Back     Latest news from Green Building Press    Subscribe to our newsletter

1001