The winners of the annual Wood Awards have been announced at a ceremony at Carpenters’ Hall in London hosted by David Hopkins, Director of the Timber Trade Federation.
Established in 1971, the Wood Awards is free to enter and aim to recognise, encourage and promote outstanding design, craftsmanship and installation using wood.
The judges selected Storey’s Field Centre & Eddington Nursery as this year’s Mears Group Gold Award and Commercial & Leisure winner.
The Mears Group Gold Award is given to the winner of winners. Stephen Corbett, chair of this year’s buildings judging panel, comments, “the best building rose to the top, for its winning combination of architectural merit, structural ingenuity and flawless execution.”
In Education & Public Sector, the award went to the Sultan Nazrin Shah Centre, which houses a large lecture theatre, a student learning space, seminar rooms and a dance studio. Judge Ruth Slavid said, “This is a building of tremendous quality and atmosphere, where every detail has been thought through.”
The Interiors award went to the Royal Academy of Music Theatre & New Recital Hall (pictured, left), two exceptional performance spaces that have been integrated within the Academy site. The judges praised the project’s wow-factor.
The Private category was won by the Old Shed New House, a timber framed and clad home nestled within the landscape of North Yorkshire. Judge David Morley said that the project “seems perfectly suited to its owners: this building is simple and modest but also delicate and uplifting to visit.”
Best Small Project was Look! Look! Look! (pictured, below), a pavilion within a 18th century walled garden originally designed by Georgian landscape designer Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown. The judges praised the project’s sense of fun.
This year’s Structural Award winner is The Macallan Distillery & Visitor Experience, chosen from all the shortlisted buildings. Judge Nathan Wheatley comments, “This unique roof unites architecture and engineering to create one of the UK’s largest timber structures in the UK, and is the crowning glory of the new distillery.”
The Judges’ Special Award is discretionary. Woodland Classrooms, Belvue School stood out on the strength of its achievement for the schoolchildren who have been rewarded with an unforgettable, life-changing learning environment.
As a not-for-profit competition, the Wood Awards can only happen with collaborative industry sponsorship. Mears Group sponsors the Mears Group Gold Award which is the project that the judges deem to be the best of all the winners. Major Sponsors are American Hardwood Export Council, Carpenters' Company and TRADA. Other Sponsors include American Softwoods, Arnold Laver, Forestry Commission, Timber Trade Federation, Wood for Good, Furniture Makers’ Company and London Design Fair.