Just after the judges wrapped up the shortlist selection for this year’s Wood Awards, TTJ was allowed a glimpse at all 128 entries.
Pictured here are the projects we picked out to illustrate the diversity of the buildings from around the UK put forward for this increasingly well-known and prestigious competition. Some may not have made the shortlist, to be announced on September 22 at the 100% Detail exhibition in London. But some may have got through, and among them we may even have picked out the top “Gold Winner” – although we won’t know that until the Awards presentation itself on October 19.
Whatever their fate, all the projects pictured here underline the continuing rapid development of UK timber construction – and the quality. Or as the judging panel chairman Giles Downes of Sidell Gibson said: “The entries are a testament to the progress of wood in buildings – and to the Awards themselves.”
The Wood Awards comprises four sections, Commercial & Public Access, Private, Structural, and Conservation/Restoration. This year’s entries across the categories covered the range from church repairs to major public buildings, from small private houses to university libraries, with building styles stretching from highly conservative to ultra-modern. Well-known practices and previously unknown entrants employed everything from solid hardwoods and softwoods, to mouldings, plywood and MDF.
The shortlisted projects in each category are now being assessed by architects from Sidell Gibson, Hopkins Architects and English Heritage, plus representatives of the craft of woodworking and the architectural media.
The Wood Awards was launched more than 20 years ago as the Carpenters’ Award. Major sponsors are the American Hardwood Export Council, the Carpenters’ Company, the Forestry Commission and wood. for good, along with many other organisations with interests in the promotion of wood, described by the Award organisers “as the construction industry’s only renewable material”. These include TTJ, which is supporting the event for the second year.
The progress of the Wood Awards entries from shortlist to winners can be followed by visiting www.woodawards.com.
