The Sibson Building, home to the School of Mathematics, Statistics and Actuarial Science (SMSAS) at Kent, won three awards at the annual Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Awards ceremony last night (Thursday 17 May 2018).
The architectural firm behind Sibson, Penoyre and Prasad alongside the Building’s contractors, Willmott Dixon, collected the ‘RIBA South East Award 2018’ and ‘RIBA South East Building of the Year 2018’, with Senior Architect, Michael Fostiropoulos, collecting the ‘RIBA South East Project Architect 2018’ Award.
RIBA Judges commented “This is a very thoughtful building, with a clear architectural concept which has been rigorous enough to withstand the project development and budgetary constraints… The quality of detailing is impressive, particularly as the contract was Design and Build. It was evident that the relationship between the design team and contractor was good, with shared aspirations helped by good communication of design intent. Likewise, there seemed to be a strong sense of trust and respect between client and architect and when we met them the architect’s passion and enthusiasm was infectious. We found it enjoyable to hear them speak about their ideas and we felt this was an impressive team collaboration. Overall, this is an exemplary education building embodying creativity with an intelligent and responsible approach.”
These aren’t the only accolades that the visionaries behind the School’s new home have picked up. Earlier this month, Penoyre and Prasad won the Graphisoft UK ‘Public Sector of the Year’ award for their use of building information modelling (BIM) on the project. Sibson was also shortlisted as the ‘Regional Finalist’ in the South East category at the Civic Trust Awards 2018, the ‘Best Public-Use Project with Public Funding’ category at the Blueprint Awards 2017, the ‘Higher Education Project of the Year’ category at the Architects’ Journal Architecture Awards 2017 and the ‘Higher Education and Research’ category at the World Architecture Festival Awards 2017.
Sibson was featured on the front cover of The Architects’ Journal in January 2018 and attracted widespread publicity for its modern design and its sustainable and low-energy credentials, recognised by the award of a BREEAM score of ‘Excellent’, the world’s foremost environment assessment method and rating system for buildings.
Sibson opened in March 2017 and is home to the School of Mathematics, Statistics and Actuarial Science and Kent Business School. Discover what SMSAS students have to say about learning and studying in Sibson: