2025 RIBA Yorkshire Awards Winners, Loftus building design, Redcar and Cleveland architecture, Property

Duncan Place Library & Community Hub

9 May 2025

Location: Loftus, Redcar and Cleveland borough, North Yorkshire, England, UK

Design: EDable Architecture

RIBA Yorkshire Award winners 2025 announced

Duncan Place Library & Community Hub design by EDable Architecture.

photos © Sally Ann Norman Photography

Duncan Place Library & Community Hub – RIBA Award

Jury citation:

Duncan Place is a community project that brings about positive change through a process of co-design, coupled with an ambitious local authority client determined to drive improvements in their town. The jury were impressed with the transformational change that this modest project is delivering. Tucked off the high street in the small town of Loftus, it brings together an existing youth and community facility, family base and library, all under one roof to create a new cultural and community destination.

By regenerating an existing Victorian building, as well as improving connectivity to a neighbouring park and high street, the project delivers a much-improved civic focus to an unloved and underused part of the town. Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council secured funding through the Future High Streets programme, Duncan Place being the first of the local authority’s key projects for the wider town vision.

There was a commendable process of co-design by EDable Architecture, the design team who have worked alongside a large number of stakeholders, community champions and end users, all of whom have shaped a building for the people, by the people. This was a challenging project, not least because it was developed and delivered during the COVID-19 pandemic. The project team approached the process of co-design through both online and socially distanced events, utilising clear diagramming, models and drawings to communicate their ideas and engage people.

As project architect Matthew Margetts said, ‘the building almost shaped itself as a result’. This was a project that had to do a lot on a limited budget. The targeted areas include two new extensions, bringing some ambition to the overall scheme. The replacement library is well-positioned and a much-improved space. Its architectural form mirrors the Victorian gable of the original building, with a coloured glazed screen bringing a sense of frontage.

Filled with light and acoustically well managed, its interior is shaped by warm plywood materials. The sports and community hall provides space for a range of activities, but especially for young people – bringing them off the streets, into managed spaces that are well supported by youth workers. Externally this simple, robust building signals the new adapted entrance, with bold graphic treatment to announce arrival.

The integration of provision and service all in one place is a strength of the project too. By reducing physical barriers, there are mutual and natural links between services. The aim is to improve language and literacy skills, provide support to parents and families, improve community cohesion, and reduce social problems and antisocial behaviour. Duncan Place enables this to happen.

The jury were impressed with the level of enthusiasm and sense of achievement articulated by the many people who use the building. Duncan Place demonstrates how even a relatively modest architectural intervention can not only deliver important and much-needed provision but also foster a sense of ownership, responsibility and agency for people to shape their own communities.