The winner of the Mixed-Use category is Fitzroy Place in London by Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands and Sheppard Robson.
‘It creates a new, integrated piece of cityscape with a sophisticated mix of different uses,’ enthused the judges about this mixed-use development on the site of the former Middlesex Hospital in London. ‘There is a real heart to it.’
Fitzroy Place combines new-build with the refurbishment of historic structures to provide two office buildings, 289 market and tenure-blind affordable homes, a health centre and an assembly hall for the adjacent primary school. New pedestrian routes through the site lead into a fully accessible public square – the first major new square to be created in central London for more than 100 years.
Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands and Sheppard Robson were jointly tasked with creating a ‘family’ of buildings, each with its own identity, sensitive to the scale and grain of the adjoining streets. Conservation specialist Caroe & Partners oversaw the repair of the Grade ll*-listed Middlesex Hospital Chapel and its restoration as a community asset (‘an exquisite refurbishment’, according to our judges), while Gross Max undertook the landscaping.
The aim was to create buildings that were contemporary in character but definitely ‘of’ Fitzrovia. And the result is a development that has brought openness and life back to a once closed and inward-looking piece of city. In the words of one of our judges: ‘The experience of the space is superb. I’ve found a new place in London to sit in.’