HMP & YOI Stirling wins RIBA National Award
We are immensely proud to announce that we have won an RIBA National Award for our HMP & YOI Stirling project. One of only 20 UK-wide winners, this important success follows on from winning the Glasgow and Stirling Chapter Awards, a Scottish Design Gold Award, and 2 RIAS Awards (including one for Innovation). It is fantastic to achieve such recognition from our Architectural peers.
The project effectively re-invents custodial environments for Women in custody - with a trauma informed, gender specific, and therapeutic approach to design. Working closely with our Client the Scottish Prison Service from the outset, together we embraced the challenge, and constantly questioned assumptions throughout the design process.
Heavily rooted in its relationship with the fantastic natural and historic local context, it meaningfully embraces the landscape, natural light, views and movement, creating a calm and quietly dignified environment that offers hope, purpose and ambition to its occupants throughout this part of their rehabilitative journey.
The RIAS and RIBA judges noted - ‘This ambitious and quietly radical project marks a fundamental rethinking of custodial environments in Scotland. Designed with compassion and clarity, it supports women in custody through spaces that promote dignity, equality and meaningful rehabilitation’ adding that - ‘HMP & YOI Stirling is a landmark project for Scottish architecture – a model of how public buildings can be both operationally robust and deeply humane, setting a new standard for justice infrastructure in the UK and beyond’.
Project Director, David Gardner added, ‘It has been an absolute privilege to work on the design of this world leading facility. There has been a huge amount of hard work, bravery and dedication from everyone involved in the process. We are confident that the results of this commitment will positively influence the lives of so many Women in custody throughout their time in HMP&YOI Stirling.’
You can read more about the project elsewhere on our website;
https://www.holmesmiller.com/insights/atherapeuticapproachtocustodialdesign
