Health PFI shortlisted for major design award

Hospital Development, Jul 2001

The Cumberland Infirmary PFI scheme is up against some outstanding recent public buildings in the shortlist for the inaugural Better Public Buildings Award.

Nine projects, including the Peckham Library, the Great Court at the British Museum, and the Tate Modern, have been nominated. The Award is sponsored by the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) and the Office for Government Commerce. It forms part of the British Construction Industry Awards, which will be presented at a ceremony in London on 24 October.

The Awards "recognise excellence in the design and construction of publicly funded schemes," said CABE, "be they small community buildings, transport projects or major civic spaces". Prime Minister Tony Blair said: "I am delighted there have been so many high quality entries, and I am especially pleased that projects of all sizes and types are represented".

Sir Stuart Lipton, chair of CABE, and chairman of the judging panel, said that the judges will be visiting the nine shortlisted projects, which "despite their differences in scale and purpose, all clearly demonstrate the aspirations set out by the Prime Minister in the Government document 'Better Public Buildings'.

* CABE has recently launched its Corporate Strategy, in which it states as one of its priorities: "To improve the design quality of new buildings in the education and health sectors, focusing particularly on schools and hospitals procured under the private finance initiative". CABE has also launched an interactive website, as the "first step towards a national digital library" of architecturewww.cabe.org.uk