SFE Awards 2026 Shortlist

20 July 2026

Recognised in the ‘Project of the Year | Refurbishment Retrofit’ category, 76 Southbank adopted a disassembly-led approach to retain the building’s original materials for the precast elements. This included each balustrade being extracted with a 400mm slide of the terrace slab and transported to an off-site yard, where controlled cutting sequences allowed the visible faces to be preserved. The original corbels and shear links were then carefully adapted into new bracketry, compatible with the extended slab and the building’s updated structural strategy.

Backstage at The Old Vic, shortlisted in ‘Project of the Year | Little Gems’ category, is a new-build, six-storey extension to the Grade II* listed Old Vic Theatre in London’s Waterloo and marks a bold new chapter in the theatre’s remarkable 200-year story. The outward-facing elevation announces the building’s approach to sustainability through the reuse of locally sourced redundant theatre barn door lights, creating a colourful and playful brise soleil held off the main facade in front of fixed curtain wall glazing.

Situated in the 15th arrondissement of Paris, UNESCO Headquarters has been shortlisted in the ‘Project of the Year | Refurbishment Heritage’ category. Central to the project was the refurbishment of Jean Prouvé’s facade system, comprised of 848 modular facade units which were identified for retention, repair, replacement or reintegration through a ‘kit-of-parts’ methodology.

In addition, Angel Square has been shortlisted for ‘Project of the Year | Commercial’. This prominent corner site in Islington, North London, underwent a six-storey refurbishment which included revitalising the facade, engineering a terracotta rainscreen cladding as well as redesigning the floor layouts for better efficiency.

Well done to everyone involved in these projects!