Four ideal patrons comprise RIBA's 2022 Client of the Year shortlist

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has continued its tradition of honoring architectural patronage with the unveiling of their 2022 Client of the Year shortlist.

The four entities that made this year’s list offer a variety of project types with one unifying throughline — project quality — standing as the order of the day.

“From a South London council to one of Oxford University’s oldest colleges, each of these clients must be commended and upheld for their commitment to considered, quality design,” juror Denise Bennetts said in a statement. “Through commissioning and working alongside exceptionally-skilled architects, they have set new benchmarks for housing, workplaces, schools, and higher-education facilities.”

The overall winner will be announced as part of the Stirling Prize party to be broadcast live from RIBA’s 66 Portland Place headquarters on October 13th. That winning client will join a list of past winners that includes last year’s recipient, the Cambridge Mosque Trust, Network Rail (2019), Argent LLP (2018), Bedales School (2017), Westmorland Ltd (2016), National Theatre (2015), Manchester Metropolitan University (2014), and the National Trust (2013).

This year’s shortlist of best UK clients is comprised of:

Masters Field Development by Niall McLaughlin Architects for Balliol College (Oxford University)

Jury comments: "Masters Field Development is a significant addition to the edge of the urban centre of Oxford, comprising 228 bedrooms along roughly 200m of streetscape in total. It also represents the development of a sophisticated visual and constructional language which allows for the degree of repetition and subtle variation that is both necessary and appropriate for a single building project of this size and in this context."

Harris Academy, Sutton by Architype for London Borough of Sutton

Jury comments: "Situated at the gateway to a world-leading medical cancer research and treatment site, Sutton Council required a new secondary school that would meet their aspirational goals for both sustainability and high quality education. The programme for the scale and quality of building required to achieve Passivhaus certification was challenging and required rigorous attention to detail and air-tightness. What has been achieved is a flexible community asset fit for the future."

100 Liverpool Street by Hopkins Architects for British Land

Jury comments: "The client and design team evidently worked together very closely –adjusting and nudging the brief on the way to produce the best outcome, which is a truly impressive project. Its approach to reusing the existing building demonstrates clear strategic thinking, keeping what could be salvaged, unpicking what could not, and adding what was necessary."

Hackney New Primary School and 333 Kingsland Road by Henley Halebrown for Thornsett Group Plc and The Benyon Estate

Jury comments: "The project comprises a school enabled by a new housing block, both on a single, tight urban site. Its size clearly challenges educational and environmental norms, with the elimination of internal corridors forming an inner world of a closely knit courtyard and classrooms.  It is clear the architects have had to be inventive to deliver required light and ventilation on this restricted school site and the courtyard is very much the heart of the school in the same way the hall was in the Victorian board school.  Everything happens within this central space."