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UK’s best adaptive reuse projects make the 2025 RIBA Reinvention Award shortlist
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has announced the shortlist for the 2025 edition of the Reinvention Award.
The annual award recognizes achievement in the creative reuse of buildings to improve their environmental, social, or economic sustainability. The program aims to celebrate and cast a light on retrofitting as a means to increase the longevity and energy efficiency of existing buildings and as a way to reduce the need for demolition and new construction.
This year’s shortlist features four projects that incorporate sensitive restorations and innovative material use to transform the communities around them. This shortlist has been selected from winners of the 2025 RIBA Regional Awards.
“Faced with excellent, diverse entries across sectors, scale, and complexity, the jury had a challenging task, ” said Jury Chair and Managing Director of Marks Barfield Architects, Julia Barfield. “We were looking for exceptional reinvention; regenerative, transformational in form and function, while contributing to society and biodiversity. Four projects rose to the top, including the adaptation of a former 1930s telephone exchange into a sustainable office building in Cambridge, a social and fabric transformation of a derelict church in Kent, a barn transformation in Sussex, and the refurbishment of a Grade II* listed Arts and Craft building in Oxford. It is testament to the welcome speed of change in the industry that 51% of RIBA UK award winners are for refurbishment or conservation and that the reinvention awards are to such high quality.”
Look below to learn more about each project.
Knepp Wilding Kitchen and Shop by Kaner Olette Architects (Horsham)
