Project location: Regional

Maggie's Centre

Maggie’s Lanarkshire is a project of quiet dignity and architectural nuance — a healing space designed to support people affected by cancer. The building forms part of the Maggie’s Centre network, each commissioned with the ambition to explore how architecture can meaningfully improve wellbeing.

Designed by Reiach & Hall Architects, the building consists of a low brick form that gently folds around a series of enclosed gardens. These external rooms allow light, air, and reflection to permeate the heart of the building — forming a meditative rhythm for visitors moving through the space. The walled garden, water features, and filtered views provide gentle transitions between public and private, openness and sanctuary.

This project demanded not only aesthetic and spatial sensitivity but a level of construction precision that few building envelopes require — achieved through EBM’s close design coordination and advanced brick specification.

Project

Wellington College

Wellington College, founded in 1854 as a national monument to the first Duke of Wellington, stands as one of the most prestigious co-educational boarding schools. Located within 400 acres of Berkshire parkland, the school accommodates over 1,100 pupils and continues to evolve through a 25-year estate development strategy. This long-term vision seek to sensitivity enhance the listed campus by blending architectural innovation with it’s historic landscape setting.

As part of this masterplan, a series of new buildings – ranging from educational and residential to cultural and social facilities – have been introduced to support the academic and pastoral ambitions of the College. The development promotes low-carbon infrastructure, improved access, and the formation of new character areas that reinforce the relationship between buildings and nature across the estate.

Project

Mill House

Mill House is a mixed-use development in the heart of Cambridge, designed by MCW Architects, the 2023 Higher Education Architect of the Year. Situated beside the historic Newnham Mill Pond, the scheme replaces a fire-damaged Edwardian building and revitalises a prominent corner of the city with new housing and a vibrant commercial frontage.

The three-storey development integrates sensitively into the local townscape, combining seven upper-floor studio and one-bedroom apartments with a ground-floor café-deli that also serves as a flexible community venue. The building enhances the conservation area by re-establishing street presence and reactivating the public realm. With carefully framed views across the millpond and thoughtful massing, the project delivers a modern interpretation of Cambridge’s architectural heritage.

Project

Astley Castle

Astley Castle in Nuneaton stands as a benchmark for contemporary restoration, earning the RIBA Stirling Prize in 2013 for its visionary approach. Once a roofless ruin with centuries of decay, the medieval structure – formerly owned by the three queens of England – was transformed into a remarkable holiday residence by Witherford Watson Mann Architects for the Landmark Trust.

Rather than replicating the past, the architects Witherford Watson Mann preserved the castle’s raw, fragmented presence and inserted a modern home within its ancient walls. New Petersen brickwork carefully binds the medieval remnants, stabilising the structure while leaving elements of ruin exposed to maintain a sense of historical continuity. The result is a sensitive, layered composition of past and present – functional, architectural, and symbolic.