Wood Awards Winners Announced

Stoke Newington Town Hall has triumphed in this year’s Wood Awards, winning the Conservation/Restoration category before claiming the 2010 Gold Award in front of around 200 leading industry figures. HawkinsBrown Architects receiving the Gold Award As the UK’s premier architecture and furniture awards programme, the Wood Awards recognises innovative design and craftsmanship in the world’s most natural material. In presenting the Gold Award to HawkinsBrown Architects at the ceremony at Carpenters’ Hall in London, the chairman of the judges, Michael Morrison of Purcell Miller Tritton, praised the historic building project as ‘truly outstanding’. Restored to its former art deco glory, Stoke Newington Town Hall consists of two principal spaces: the Council Chamber and the Assembly Hall. Many of the original features of the building, which was constructed in the 1930s, have been retained and expertly restored, including the Australian walnut veneered panelling. The dance floor has also been brought back to life with a new Canadian maple sprung floor and the addition of Europe’s second biggest glitter ball. ‘Old and new have been seamlessly combined, every detail has been designed and executed to the very highest standard whilst retaining the building’s character,’ said Mr Morrison. The Council Chamber at Stoke Newington Town Hall Other winners on the night included Sevenoaks School Performing Arts Centre, by Tim Ronalds Architects, which scooped the Commercial & Public Access Award. The 450-seat concert hall features a large timber roof, providing excellent acoustics, and left the judges ‘instantly overwhelmed by the magnificence and grandeur of the building’. Hull History Centre, by Pringle Richards Sharratt Architects Ltd, won the Structural Award for a timber arcade structure which overcame several structural and geometrical challenges to create its curved timber members.
St Peter’s Centre, by Communion Design, won the Private/Best Small Project Award. This project comprised free-standing timber ‘boxes