Winner and Best in region

Worthing Integrated Care Centre entered by Worthing Borough Council / ArchitecturePLB 

Worthing Integrated Care Centre exemplifies innovative healthcare design, seamlessly integrating multiple services within a sustainable facility. This pioneering project creates a vital community asset, housing GP surgeries, mental health services, and community care.

The four-storey building’s elegant linear form arranged around a central 'vertical street', responds to its historic context while prioritizing sustainability through natural ventilation and low-carbon materials.

Extensive stakeholder engagement ensured a design that fosters collaborative care and enhances the public realm. The centre not only meets high environmental standards but also sets a new benchmark for integrated healthcare delivery, demonstrating ArchitecturePLB's expertise in creating innovative, community-focused architecture.

Judges citation:

Worthing Integrated Care Centre exemplifies innovative healthcare design, seamlessly integrating multiple services within a sustainable facility. 

The judges felt that the planners had sought to exploit every opportunity of this site to not only deliver the immediate project needs, but also a sustainable, accessible and adaptable building carefully designed to fit in with the historic location and the wider community. 

Developed in the town’s civic quarter, re-providing for the car park, the development allows for the consolidation of services from across the town into this new more accessible location.  That will also free up other redevelopment opportunities.

The fabric-first, natural ventilation approach, with a green roof and low embodied carbon ensures energy use is minimised. The planners led the site appraisal, design, and consultation processes with responsive engagement throughout. 

The judges were particularly impressed by the approach taken to enhance the wider public realm.  Located on a challenging site with a range of adjacent design of buildings, some of heritage interest, meant the planners needed to ensure that the building suited its context. 

But the judges felt the stepped four-storey building responds well and has a very positive contribution to the area.  The insistence on a single building, with accessible links to the multi-storey car park, not only makes efficient use of the site but will also help to ensure it is adaptable to the changing needs of its various users. Incorporating the complex needs of the services to be provided, the judges recognised that had been achieved in a high-quality internal environment with significant benefits for both users and staff.

The judges wish this project every success, as it not only brings health improvements for the local community, but also provides an exemplar for other health services nationally to follow. 

Commendation

Wealden District Council- Southern Water LPA Stakeholder Group entered by Wealden District Council

Wealden District Council took the lead in establishing the Southern Water Stakeholder Group in response to significant issues, including flooding and sewage pollution affecting residents and businesses. This Group unites over 20 councils across the South East, creating a platform for local authorities to collectively hold Southern Water and their regulators accountable for the poor quality of waterways and the coastline.

Led by planners, the group has undertaken various actions, such as lobbying at a national level, utilising Grampian planning conditions to prevent development without adequate infrastructure and pursuing legal advice and a test case appeal. 

Judges' citation:

The group was established to combat waterway pollution and ensure sufficient infrastructure is in place to allow development without detriment to local communities. The group has achieved significant milestones, including improved sewage infrastructure, biodiversity improvements, enhanced transparency, and proactive community engagement.

This proactive approach demonstrates the powerful role of planning and the tools within it that can be utilised to bring about change. The combined body approach has added weight to representations with government agencies and departments and has the benefit of allowing knowledge to be shared.

The group’s actions have led to increased transparency and communication. Regular meetings and updates have provided an effective platform for concerns to be addressed.

The group has experimented with untested procedures and has been bold in their actions to ensure that new developments do not proceed until adequate infrastructure is in place, protecting local communities and the environment from potential pollution and flooding.

This approach has been tested at appeal and upheld with PINS decision 3343709. The Group’s actions have set a precedent for other councils to follow, demonstrating innovation in thinking and leadership in planning practice.

Overall, the judges considered this innovation a great example of the power of planning and how collaboration between local authorities can address a particular problem. It demonstrated an interesting example of planning seeking to bring about change, with planners working with the planning and legal tools available to them, to pursue the aim of good planning and achieve local objectives.

Difficult and thorny issues of public trust in the planning system and planner’s implementation of it were raised by the entry and although the solution so far is an interim measure to a long-term problem, the use of planning powers to achieve this should be recognised and commended.

Sea Lanes entered by Lewis and Co Planning SE Ltd

Sea Lanes Brighton is the UK’s first national open water swimming centre, offering a 50m, six-lane, heated outdoor pool located on the beachfront. Open year-round, it caters to both recreational and competitive swimmers, with flexible membership options and pay-per-swim.

The site promotes community health by offering a space for local events, fitness, and wellness. Accessibility is a priority, with features like ramps, hoists, and Changing Places facilities. The development enhances Brighton’s coastal experience while encouraging a healthier, more active lifestyle.

Judges' citation:

Sea Lanes is home to the National Open Water Swimming Centre. It comprises a six-lane 50 metre open-air swimming pool and 15 small businesses focusing on complimentary uses such as fitness, wellbeing and food.

The judges found that the development of Sea Lanes represents a holistic approach to incorporating clear community benefits from the pool itself and the associated businesses, with a design that respects its Brighton seafront location. Planners played a clear role in using the provisions of the formal system to encourage a high-quality outcome.

A visit to the site highlights the transformation of a neglected site into a development that has a clear sense of place and purpose, and is well-integrated into the seafront. In particular, the choice of wood and other low key finishes stood out, along with the limiting of building heights to two storeys. At the time of the visit the site was well-used, both the pool itself and other businesses on the site.

The judges were impressed by the clear evidence of how it was shaped by wide- ranging community engagement and guided carefully by planners. Further attention to detail is evident in the careful incorporation of features to make the pool accessible to all, for example by including a hoist, shallow steps and a Changing Places facility, and environmental measures such as on-site solar energy generation.

Overall, the judges commend the project for its holistic approach, incorporating appropriate design and sustainability measures, an extensive and effective approach to community engagement and impressive attention to accessibility and inclusivity. The result is a development that has clear and extensive benefits for its local community.