Thornsett Group and the Benyon Estate named the 2022 RIBA Client of the Year

RIBA has announced British developers Thornsett Group and the Benyon Estate as their joint 2022 Client of the Year for their commission of Henley Halebrown’s Hackney New Primary School and 333 Kingsland Road project in London.

The 2015 scheme was lauded as a “significant contribution to the East London community as a piece of social infrastructure” that “skilfully combines a community-led school with 68 apartments on a complex urban site.”

The project was also just named the winner of RIBA's 2022 Neave Brown Award for Housing.

The 8,500-square-meter (91,500-square-foot) mixed-use structure was realized this year at the cost of £26 million ($29.5 million USD) and is marked by its distinctive red brick composition and cloistered inner courtyard feature. A press announcement from the organization mentioned its “village-like” design aiming to “increase visibility and foster a sense of community.” 

"I thank and congratulate both Thornsett Group Estate PLC and the Benyon Estate for their commitment to addressing the local community’s needs for affordable housing and a primary school,” Denise Bennetts, the chair of this year’s Client of the Year jury, said in a statement. “Their resolve and dedication enabled Henley Halebrown to design and deliver visually striking and practical facilities — a critical and clever hybrid intervention that maximises the potential of an extremely complex site.”

Bennetts was joined on the three-member panel by Tracy Meller, a Senior Partner at RSHP; and Dr. Timothy Winter, Cambridge Mosque Trustee, Founder and Dean of the Cambridge Muslim College, which was named winner of the RIBA Client of the Year for 2021.