City of Winchester Trust Design Awards -
TrustNews March 07
Do you know what you like when you see it? This year the City of Winchester Trust is inviting members of the public as well as its own members to nominate recent buildings for its Design Awards.
The Trust’s Design Award plaques mark a steadily increasing number of the best of Winchester’s new buildings down the years. The last were selected in 2004 and presented in early 2005 at the University of Winchester’s Award-winning West Downs Centre.
Now it’s 2007 and time for the next set of Awards. As before there are six categories of entry: new buildings (of any size); sympathetic extensions to existing buildings; rehabilitation / restoration of older buildings; landscape, planting and treatment of open spaces; shop fronts, fascias and facades; streetscape – lighting, signs, street furniture, walls, fencing and ground surface. Depending on the number and quality of entries, Awards may not be made in all categories. The buildings must be within the City of Winchester, be visible to the public (at least externally) and have been completed between 1 July 2003 and 1 May 2007. For these awards the public face of the buildings and their contribution to the Winchester scene are more important than interiors, unless these are public spaces.
The closing date for entries is Monday 14 May 2007, and the information required is simple and cheap to prepare, to encourage a wide range of entries. The judging will be by a panel of Trust members and others, led by George Ferguson, Past President of the Royal Institute of British Architects. He is a principal in Acanthus Ferguson Mann Architects in Bristol, and has a particular interest in historic buildings and towns. Voting for an additional Members’ Award, which may or may not coincide with the judges’ choice, will be at the Trust AGM in September, followed by the announcement of Award winners and commendations at a presentation ceremony in October.
This year members of the public as well as of the Trust are invited to nominate buildings to be entered. If you know the architect for the building you could prompt him or her directly. If not, just complete an entry form as far as you can and return it to the Heritage Centre as soon as possible for the Trust to check its details and, if the building is eligible, pass on to its architect or designer for entering. Entry forms are available from the Trust at the Heritage Centre, 32 Upper Brook Street, Winchester SO23 8DG, tel 01962 851664 email secretary@cityofwinchestertrust.co.uk.