Shortlist announced for Scottish Design Awards 2022

University of Strathclyde Learning and Teaching Building

FINALISTS have been announced for the Scottish Design Awards 2022, which celebrate the top achievements by architecture and design professionals.

With hundreds of entries to choose from, a 48-hour judging programme has come to an end. The winners will be revealed at a ceremony in Glasgow on June 29.

Architecture chair Allan Murray, founder of Allan Murray Design, said, “The Scottish Design Awards is a unique platform to showcase the work of Scottish designers. The past two years have been extraordinarily difficult for many people which is why it is so positive to see how design has remained at the heart of who we are.

“The quality of the submission designs is testimony to the continuing creativity and energy of Scotland’s talent. Many submissions prompted important debates on key issues facing our professions – placemaking, energy, housing, social equality, access as well as ambition and vision.

“There is much to be positive about and celebrate and also much to be done to continue to generate debate and advocacy on the quality of environments we wish to see in the future.”

BDP is celebrating after Glasgow Queen Street Station and the University of Strathclyde Learning and Teaching Building, both designed by BDP’s Glasgow studio, were shortlisted in separate categories.

The transformation of Scotland’s third-busiest rail hub has been nominated in the ‘Public Building’ category, while the refurbishment of two existing buildings to form new teaching spaces, lecture theatre, student union and support services, has been shortlisted in the ‘Retrofit’ category.

Ed Dymock, architect associate, BDP, said, “Since 1878, James Carswell’s original train shed has been hidden away at the heart of Queen Street, but the southern extension of the platforms gave us the opportunity to open up the views, work with volume and scale and allow the station to play a civic role within the city.”

Martin Jarvie, architect associate, BDP, added, “At Strathclyde University the decision to transform the existing buildings rather than a new-build project has substantial sustainable benefits. Our Sustainability Team compared the embodied carbon of the adaptive re-use of the existing building structure to a notional new build equivalent and demonstrated that the project saved around 67% of CO2e.”

When speaking about the entries in the Design categories, Dave Roberts of Superunion said, “The high standards of creativity and craft ran throughout all the categories with a strong sense of original thinking. Great to see excellence shining in areas such as experiential, moving image and animation. Some real benchmark projects.”

You can browse all the shortlisted entries via the Scottish Design Awards website.