![\"Elizabeth](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/606e4040-88bd-11f0-84c8-99de564f0440.jpg\")
Image source, House of Commons<\/p>\nImage source, House of Commons<\/p>\n
At a glance<\/p>\n
The \u00a380m restoration of Big Ben’s tower is shortlisted for the Riba Stirling Prize<\/p>\n
The prestigious award honours the best architecture project each year<\/p>\n
Judges hail the tower’s revamp as “a masterclass in conservation and craftsmanship”<\/p>\n
The other five nominees range from a major new science centre to a home extension<\/p>\n
Ian Youngs<\/p>\n
Culture reporter<\/p>\n
The five-year, \u00a380m restoration of the Big Ben tower in London has been nominated for the UK’s leading architecture award, alongside a new fashion college campus, a science laboratory and an “inventive” home extension.<\/p>\n
The refurbishment of Big Ben – officially known as the Elizabeth Tower – is among the six nominees for the Royal Institute of British Architects’ Stirling Prize.<\/p>\n
The list also includes the London College of Fashion campus on the former Olympic Park in east London and AstraZeneca’s medical research centre in Cambridge.<\/p>\n
They are joined by the “pioneering” Appleby Blue Almshouse retirement home and the Japanese-inspired Niwa House, both in south London, and an extension to an “eccentric” home in Hastings.<\/p>\n
The Elizabeth line – London’s east-west train line – won the prestigious award last year.<\/p>\n
![\"Elizabeth](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/96747520-4e66-11ef-b2d2-cdb23d5d7c5b.jpg\")
Image source, Hufton + CrowImage caption, <\/p>\n
The Elizabeth line won last year’s Stirling Prize<\/p>\n
The prize is given to the building judged to be “the most significant of the year for the evolution of architecture and the built environment”, and is judged on criteria including design vision, innovation and originality.<\/p>\n
It is usually given to a brand new building, but can also go to major restorations and renovations.<\/p>\n
Other previous winners of the prize – first presented in 1996 – include Liverpool’s Everyman Theatre, Hastings Pier and the Scottish Parliament building in Edinburgh.<\/p>\n
Appleby Blue Almshouse by Witherford Watson Mann Architects<\/p>\n
Elizabeth Tower by Purcell<\/p>\n
Hastings House by Hugh Strange Architects<\/p>\n
London College of Fashion by Allies and Morrison<\/p>\n
Niwa House by Takero Shimazaki Architects<\/p>\n
The Discovery Centre by Herzog and de Meuron\/BDP<\/p>\n
Riba president Chris Williamson said the shortlsted projects all “demonstrate architecture’s unique ability to address some of the most urgent challenges of our time, responding with creativity, adaptability and care”.<\/p>\n
Each offers “a blueprint for how architecture can enrich society”, and they show a “hopeful vision for the future, one where architecture strengthens communities and helps shape a more sustainable and inclusive built environment”, he added.<\/p>\n
Appleby Blue Almshouse by Witherford Watson Mann Architects<\/p>\n
![\"Appleby](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/07b38f50-88bd-11f0-b391-6936825093bd.jpg\")
Image source, Philip Vile<\/p>\n
This social housing development, with 57 flats for over-65s, in Southwark, south London, replaced an abandoned care home, and is billed as a modern version of the traditional almshouse.<\/p>\n
The design is intended to “foster community and reduce isolation among residents”, Riba said, with communal areas and shared facilities including a kitchen and double-height garden room. “The result is a new standard for inclusive social housing in later life.”<\/p>\n
Elizabeth Tower by Purcell<\/p>\n
![\"Elizabeth](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/3467f4f0-88bd-11f0-84c8-99de564f0440.jpg\")
Image source, House of Commons<\/p>\n
The Elizabeth Tower is one of London’s best-known landmarks and is often known as Big Ben – although that’s actually the name of the bell that produces the famous bongs.<\/p>\n
The most extensive works to the tower in its 160-year history included repairs to the clock mechanism; changes to the colour scheme on the four clock faces to put back the Victorian blue and gold; and reinstating St George’s Cross flag emblems. Accessibility improvements include a new lift.<\/p>\n
The result is described as “a veritable masterclass in conservation and craftsmanship” by the judges – although it came at a cost, going way over its original budget, which was estimated at \u00a329m to \u00a345m.<\/p>\n
Hastings House by Hugh Strange Architects<\/p>\n
![\"Hastings](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/dcfe1f40-88c2-11f0-84c8-99de564f0440.jpg\")
Image source, Rory Gaylor<\/p>\n
This late 19th Century detached hillside house in the East Sussex town has been extended with a series of timber-framed rooms and industrial exterior features including a concrete yard and galvanised steel staircase.<\/p>\n
“The result goes beyond a house extension, transforming the entire home and producing a lesson in restrained, inventive reuse,” the judges said.<\/p>\n
London College of Fashion by Allies and Morrison<\/p>\n
![\"London](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1f3dcef0-88c3-11f0-84c8-99de564f0440.jpg\")
Image source, Simon Menges<\/p>\n
The college previously had six buildings but the 6,000 students and staff moved to the new 17-storey headquarters in the Queen Elizabeth Park in Stratford, east London, in 2023.<\/p>\n
Judges approvingly noted features including its “dramatic staircases unfurling through a shared ‘heart space’ to encourage collaboration”.<\/p>\n
Niwa House by Takero Shimazaki Architects<\/p>\n
![\"Niwa](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/5d3b8f30-88c3-11f0-b391-6936825093bd.jpg\")
Image source, Felix Koch<\/p>\n
This home, described as a “pavilion-like oasis”, was built on a previously derelict plot behind a row of terraced houses in south London for a family with a love of Japanese design. It was also designed to be accessible for a wheelchair-using resident.<\/p>\n
“The quality of light throughout the home is breathtaking,” the judges said. “Large full-height sliding doors and full-height glazed walls seamlessly blend indoors and out \u2013 opening spaces to gardens, courtyards and balconies. It is difficult to see where the building ends and the gardens begin.”<\/p>\n
The Discovery Centre by Herzog and de Meuron\/BDP<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1fc25ab0-88e3-11f0-90cc-69d2e7ebe707.jpg\")
Image source, Hufton+Crow<\/p>\n
Medicine giant AstraZeneca’s Discovery Centre “radically redefines the research facility”, according to Riba, “blending cutting-edge laboratories with welcoming public spaces”.<\/p>\n
The striking building has a curved three-sided shape, with a high, jagged exterior glass front and roof. Inside, three glass-lined labs are linked by “clever interconnecting corridors that balance stringent security with transparency, putting science on display”.<\/p>\n