Essex University Library Extension and new Student Centre are double winners in 2016 Schueco Excellence Awards

Organised by Schueco UK in conjunction with RIBA Journal, the Schueco Excellence Awards, now in their third year, were set up to recognize outstanding architecture and the very best in the design and installation of Schueco systems in Great Britain and Eire.Both the winning buildings, one a six-storey extension of the university’s 1963 brutalist library and the other a new-build centre for UoE students, are the work of London-based architects, Patel Taylor.

The judges were impressed by the architectural detailing and imaginative skill on display in two very different projects.



Both, however, make extensive and varied use of Schueco’s FW 50+ SG curtain walling system which Patel Taylor Associate, Roger Meyer, described as ‘the right system with the most flexibility which was vital to the delivery of the project’.



Other Schueco systems employed include ADS 75 door sections, AWS 102 and ADS 65+ SG opening vents. Schueco Jansen’s VISS system in a bronze PPC finish was used to provide a two-hour fire-rated link between the old and new parts of the extended library.



The specialist contractor involved in the design, fabrication and installation of the Schueco systems was HW Architectural.



The winners in the other award categories were: C-Space, Shoreditch, London (Best Commercial Building); The Whitworth, Manchester (Best Cultural Building); Congress Theatre, Eastbourne (Best Refurbishment Project); East Wing, Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital, London (Best Health Building); Kings Gate, Victoria, London (Best Residential Development); Le Petit Fort, Jersey (Best Individual Home); Berry Bros & Rudd, Pall Mall, London (Best Steel Project); East Wing, Guy’s & St Thomas’ Hospital, London (Best Specialist Contractor); Drawing Studio, Arts University, Bournemouth (Judges’ Special Award).



In addition, NTU Heart of the Campus Pavilion, Nottingham and Radcliffe Primary Care Building, University of Oxford were both commended in the Education category; The Longfords, Teddington, London was commended in the Residential Development category; Hatton Wall, London, was commended in the Steel Project category; Ulster University Belfast Campus Block BB and Queens Building, Bayswater, London were commended in the Specialist Contractor category.



The Judges’ Special Award was introduced as a one-off recognition of the special worth of The Drawing Studio at Bournemouth’s Arts University. Designed to celebrate the phenomenon of natural light, it was praised as ‘a lovely thing that shows how a standard product [Schueco FW 50+ SG, AWS 102 and ADS 65 HD] can be used in an extraordinary way’.



The 2016 judging panel comprised Hugh Pearman, editor, RIBA Journal; Louise Cotter, co-founder of Carr Cotter Naessens (Overall Excellence Award winners 2015); Paul Monaghan, director, Allford Hall Monaghan Morris; Steve Mudie, partner, alinea consulting and Greg Sinclair, director, Wintech Group.



For further information on any aspect of the 2016 Schueco Excellence Awards, please email mkinfobox@schueco.com.