Hackney Design Awards 2020: Judges announce 32-strong shortlist with residents invited to vote in two categories

This year’s finalists include a floating church. Photograph: courtesy Hackney Council

The council has announced the shortlist of 32 schemes competing in the tenth biennial Hackney Design Awards, which recognise the best architecture in the borough.

This year, residents can have their say in two categories – the long-running People’s Choice Award, and the newly added Young People’s Choice Award, which champions child-friendly developments and which any locals under the age of 18 can vote on (full list below).

The 32-strong shortlist has been chosen by a panel of judges, who took into account the design, functionality, sustainability, inclusivity and heritage of the entrants.

The final picks include extensions, restorations, schools and even a floating church, and it will now be left to a panel of architects to select the overall Design Award winners.

Build Up Hackney, a public space in Homerton designed by local youngsters, is on the shortlist for the Young People’s Choice Award. Photograph: courtesy Hackney Council

Town Hall planning chief Cllr Guy Nicholson said: “The standard of entries this year demonstrates the high quality of architecture and design of new buildings and public spaces found across the borough.

“We’re proud to use the Design Awards as an opportunity to both celebrate and recognise the very best of architecture and design and the positive effect this has on our lives.”

Winners in 2018 included the Blackstone Building, the Amazon headquarters in Building 1 Principle Place, designed as a 21st-century warehouse, and De Beauvoir Block, a sustainable restoration of an early 20th-century industrial building. 

The People’s Choice Award went to 146A Rushmore Road, a three-bedroom family home with a tiny 3.5-metre facade. 

Voting for this year’s People’s Choice Award and Young People’s Choice Award closes on 25 November.

You can find the shortlisted entries for both categories at hackney.gov.uk/designawards

To vote in either category, visit hackney.gov.uk/designawards or email designawards@hackney.gov.uk stating the category you are voting in and the scheme you are voting for

The 32 shortlisted entries for the People’s Choice Awards are:

100 Hassett Road; 16 Broadway Market; 32 Cremer Street; 34-38 Provost Street; 6 Broadway Market Mews; 6 Orsman Road; Aikin Villas; Bishopswood Almshouses; Build Up Hackney; Geldeston Road Parklet; Glyn House; Grain House; Hackney Gardens; Hackney New Primary School; Hackney School of Food; Kanbi House; King Edward’s Road; Shoreditch Park Primary School; St Leonard’s Church Shoreditch; St Leonard’s Court; St Mary’s Centre; Stamford Hill Library; The Fisheries; The Floating Church; The Library House; The Tsubo House; Three Rooms Under a New Roof; Wenlock Works 

The nine shortlisted entries for the Young People’s Choice Awards are: 

Aikin Villas; Build Up Hackney; Daubeney Fields Playable Landscape; Gainsborough Community Primary School; Hackney New Primary School; Hackney School of Food; Hackney School Streets; King Edward’s Road; The Makers Building.