RIBA Competitions

RIBA Competitions is the Royal Institute of British Architects' unit dedicated to organising architectural and other design-related competitions.

Architectural design competitions are used by an organisation that plans to build a new building or refurbish an existing building. They can be used for buildings, engineering work, structures, landscape design projects or public realm artworks. A competition typically asks for architects and/or designers to submit a design proposal in response to a given brief. The winning design will then be selected by an independent jury panel of design professionals and client representatives. The independence of the jury is vital to the fair conduct of a competition.

The objective of a competition is to explore a range of different design options to select the best response to the design brief, which would not be possible by pre-selecting one architect.

The competitions process is often used to generate new ideas, create blue-sky thinking, stimulate debate, raise the profile of the project and allow an opportunity for emerging talent to grow as well as established design practices.

In 1871 the RIBA appointed a special committee to draw up the first set of model rules and regulations for competitions. A Competitions Committee was set up in 1883 to monitor competitions and a revised version of the rules and regulations was published at this time.

In 1967 the RIBA set up a Competitions Working Group who decided not just to monitor competitions but actively promote them and persuade clients to use them. From 1971 onwards a permanent Competitions Office was established at the RIBA.

RIBA Competitions is the only organisation in the UK who has maintained a steady flow of competitions as part of the normal working environment and to have studied the competition system in depth.

RIBA Competitions has been responsible for delivering some of the most high-profile building projects in the UK and abroad through competition, such as:

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