The Galvanizing Awards celebrating outstanding projects that employ galvanized steel are now open for entries.

Fordham Abbey Dojima Sake Brewery, Ely, designed by Studio Cullinan and Buck Architects with Kay Pilsbury Thomas Architects (ph: Ed Tyler)

The Galvanizers Association are calling architects, engineers, contractors and creatives to enter this year’s Galvanizing Awards, which celebrate the best projects employing galvanized steel. After being held virtually at the start of the pandemic, and following a brief hiatus in 2021, the event returns to a live format with the award ceremony scheduled for the 1 July at the Royal Aeronautical Society in London. The winner will receive the much coveted and bijou galvanized watering can.

With entries now open, let’s take a look at what impressed the judges last time around and whet our appetite for what is to come.

In 2020 we had our most exciting entries to date. Projects which prioritised public engagement with landscape and resident culture were favourites with the judges, and a number of winners focused strongly on the connection between the built world and nature. Here’s a quick reminder of the winners:

Hill House Box, Helensburgh, by Carmody Groarke (ph: Johan Dehlin)

The Architecture Award went to joint winners, both radical solutions at heritage sites. The first was Fordham Abbey Dojima Sake Brewery, near Ely in Cambridgeshire, the first traditional sake brewery in the UK, designed by Studio Cullinan and Buck Architects (SCABAL) with Kay Pilsbury Thomas Architects (KPTA). The second was Hill House Box in Helensburgh by Carmody Groarke, with its radical approach to conservation, forming a monumental drying-room for Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s Hill House, as it undergoes restoration.

Beech Architects’ Listening Station in Southwold (ph: Suffolk Hideaways)

The Sustainability Award went to a special project focused on the sensitive use of sites in danger of coastal erosion. The Listening Station by Beech Architects replaces a former Royal Navy structure with two portable, low-energy holiday homes. Built with galvanized steel frames, not only can they be moved to various locations, but are also designed to be ‘infinitely recyclable.’

Haston Reynolds’ Centre for Dairy Science Innovation at Nottingham University (ph: Haston Reynolds/University of Nottingham.)

The Engineering Award went to Haston Reynolds for the Centre for Dairy Science Innovation, a progressive re-imagining of dairy facilities at Nottingham University. The Sustainability Award went to The Listening Station by Beech Architects, a special project focused on the sensitive use of sites in danger of coastal erosion.

Ditton Hill House in Surbiton by Surman Weston (ph: Johan Dehlin)

Ditton Hill House in Surbiton by Surman Weston won the Duplex Award, for its industrial take on mock Tudor architecture, whilst in the Detail Award category, judges singled out winner MELOY Architects’ Hill House Passivhaus.

Please Be Seated installation at Finsbury Avenue Square in London by Arup in collaboration with Paul Cocksedge (ph: Mark Cocksedge)

Finally, the Art Award was won by Arup, in collaboration with British designer Paul Cocksedge. Their large-scale installation in Finsbury Avenue Square, titled Please Be Seated, used timber sourced from reclaimed scaffolding planks and galvanized steel scaffolding poles. It brought focus to the reuse and repurpose of construction waste and was exhibited as part of the London Design Festival in 2019.

The 2020 awards were only 18 months ago, but the landscape of ideas and ambition in which the construction sector operates has changed considerably since then. Creatives within the built environment are being tasked with finding solutions for growth that are clean, green and regenerative. They are also responding with vision, daring and understanding to new ideas around communal action, community and identity. We look forward to seeing this year’s entries and hope that you and your project will be there to join us.

The GAGAs are open to all within the construction supply chain within the UK and Ireland, from clients, architects and engineers to contractors and fabricators. Artists and craftspeople at all stages of their career are also invited to enter. Entries must be submitted by 29 April and require just a short project description and photographs. Any new building, refurbishment or art project completed after 1 January 2020 is eligible. The award ceremony will be held on July 1st at the Royal Aeronautical Society, Hamilton Place, London.

Contact Details
Further details can be found at the Galvanizers Association website. Click here to enter the Galvanizing Awards.