{"id":611411,"date":"2026-05-30T03:30:46","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T03:30:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/611411\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T03:30:46","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T03:30:46","slug":"exquisite-and-understated-northumberland-home-wins-big-at-riba-north-east-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/611411\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Exquisite and understated\u2019 Northumberland home wins big at RIBA North East awards"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The jury also praised the building by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scottdonaldarchitecture.co.uk\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Cheshire-based<\/a> practice for its \u2018harmony and serenity\u2019. The project, a replacement dwelling just outside Newcastle upon Tyne, is single-storey and clad in burnt timber and dark monochrome brick.<\/p>\n<p>The house was joined in winning a 2026 RIBA North East award by the redevelopment of a 17th century castle\u2019s garden by MawsonKerr, a new building for the National Railway Museum in County Durham, the conversion of a Northumberland farmstead into homes, and a prefabricated courtyard house in Newcastle by Miltiadou Cook Mitzman and Musson Brown Architects.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-826964\" class=\"size-full wp-image-826964\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Mono-House_Nick-Guttridge_Press_03-scaled.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1918\"  \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-826964\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mono House by Scott Donald Architecture (credit: Nick Guttridge)<\/p>\n<p>MawsonKerr\u2019s garden glasshouse reception at Auckland Castle also won the region\u2019s Conservation Award, while the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/buildings\/doing-the-locomotion-aocs-national-railway-museum-addition\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">low-energy Locomotion New Hall<\/a> by AOC Architecture took home the Sustainability prize and made associate Hannah Stringer project Architect of the Year.<\/p>\n<p>The conversion of a stone granary and an agricultural outbuilding into two holiday lets by StudioNorth won the North East\u2019s Client award as well as its best Small Project award.<\/p>\n<p>Among those to miss out on regional gongs this year were two projects by SPACE Architects: the reuse of a cluster of Georgian farm buildings for the Beamish Museum and the restoration of the Grade II*-listed Goods Shed as part of the wider Hopetown Darlington project.<\/p>\n<p>The other shortlisted schemes which also failed to pick up honours in the North East were: GT3 Architects\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/buildings\/gt3-designs-sports-leisure-and-library-hub-in-northumberland\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">leisure centre in Morpeth<\/a> on the edge of the historic market town\u2019s conservation area, Tonkin Liu\u2019s 657-capacity Sundersea Sunderland car park project, which was also in the running for the award <a href=\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/2025-north-east-contenders-revealed\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">last year<\/a>, and both Elliot Architects\u2019 shortlisted projects \u2013 a new home in Hexham known as Battle Hill Studio and its courtyard house in rural Northumberland.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-826965\" class=\"size-full wp-image-826965\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Walled-Garden-Auckland-Castle_Graeme-Peaock_Press_01.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1256\"  \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-826965\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Walled Garden, Auckland Castle by MawsonKerr Architect (credit: Graeme Peacock)<\/p>\n<p>RIBA North East jury chair and associate at Faulkner Browns Andrew Thompson, said: \u2018This year\u2019s awarded projects are eclectic by\u00a0almost every\u00a0measure; yet this\u00a0seemingly sporadic\u00a0collection of projects\u00a0is\u00a0tied together by\u00a0a strong sense\u00a0of care and craft.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Care over things that many\u00a0wouldn\u2019t\u00a0notice, care over decisions taken purposefully at every stage, care for their clients, and care for the planet. Each project marries technical prowess with creative and playful design to produce buildings which delighted and surprised the jury on our visits.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>He added: \u2018All of\u00a0the awarded projects are also underpinned by wonderfully human stories. Great buildings are for living, and this year\u2019s awards\u00a0showcase\u00a0the diversity and joy of living in the\u00a0North East.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>The regional jury <a href=\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/castle-garden-and-railway-museum-named-among-riba-north-east-award-finalists\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">visited and assessed all 11 shortlisted projects<\/a>. The winners were announced last week [21 May] at a ceremony.<\/p>\n<p>Last year\u2019s North East Award was taken home by Elphick Associate\u2019s \u00a310.2 million <a href=\"https:\/\/adgefrin.co.uk\/communities\/about\/our-building\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Ad Gefrin Anglo Saxon Museum and Distillery<\/a> in Wooler, rural Northumbria, which also bagged the Sustainability award and Client of the Year titles, as well as garnering practice founder Richard Elphick the accolade of Project Architect of the Year. However, no project from the North East region went onto win a 2025 RIBA National Award.<\/p>\n<p>This year\u2019s national awards will be announced on 9 July.<\/p>\n<p>The shortlist for the RIBA Stirling Prize\u202f\u2013 the UK\u2019s best new building \u2013 will be drawn from the RIBA National Award-winning projects and announced in September. The Stirling Prize winner will be announced in October.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-826967\" class=\"size-full wp-image-826967\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/The-Limeworks_Matthew-Smith-Architectural-Ph_Press_01.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"1634\" height=\"1234\"  \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-826967\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Limeworks by StudioNorth (credit: Matthew Smith Architectural Photography)<\/p>\n<p>RIBA North East award winners<\/p>\n<p>Locomotion New Hall by AOC Architecture<br \/>\nMono House by Scott Donald Architecture<br \/>\nNewcastle Courtyard House by Miltiadou Cook Mitzman and Musson Brown Architects<br \/>\nThe Limeworks by StudioNorth<br \/>\nWalled Garden, Auckland Castle by MawsonKerr Architects<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The jury also praised the building by the Cheshire-based practice for its \u2018harmony and serenity\u2019. The project, a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":611412,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[159187,6225,6485,6486,1120,159188,96,159189,23611,154442,159190,159191,154955,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-611411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-aoc-architecture","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-elliott-architects","tag-entertainment","tag-mawsonkerr","tag-north-east","tag-riba-regional-awards","tag-scott-donald","tag-space-architects","tag-tonkin-liu","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=611411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611411\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/611412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=611411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=611411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=611411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}