Four AJ Retrofit and Reuse Awards shortlist nods
Shortlisted for four awards for residential and office adaptive reuse, and decarbonisation at scale
We’re celebrating the news that four projects that we have worked on are in the running for AJ Retrofit and Reuse 2026 awards. The categories span excellence in residential and office adaptive reuse, and decarbonisation at scale.
The AJ Retrofit & Reuse Awards celebrate expertise and ingenuity in the adaptation of buildings, as well as the reuse of materials and structures in response to the climate crisis.
Great to see four of our projects across Yorkshire, the North West and London in the mix as follows:
Campfield, Manchester - Adaptive reuse into office (up to £10 million)
The retrofit of a pair of Grade II-listed Victorian market halls to create Upper and Lower Campfield, a campus of flexible workspaces in Manchester’s St John’s district, working with Project 3 Architects for Allied London.
Once home to an indoor cheese and vegetable market in the 1800s, before latterly housing the Science and Industry Museum’s Air and Space installation, Campfield is a site with huge historical and sentimental significance in the region.
We repurposed old floorboards to form the walls and partitions, as well as historic steelwork as part of the public realm. We also carried out significant detailed analysis to allow us to retain the original substructures to support the new internal mezzanine floors. We have also created a non-intrusive mezzanine floorspace that isn’t attached to the existing frames of the building. This has reduced the impact on the historical fabric of the building and means that future usage can be easily adapted when needed, without leaving scars or impacting the original listed building fabric.
Sutton Estate, London – Decarbonisation at Scale
The retrofit of Sutton Estate in Chelsea is an outstanding example of urban regeneration and estate renewal at the 100-year-old purpose-built social housing development, one of the oldest of its kind in the country.
Our structural and civil engineers worked closely with HTA on the refurbishment of four residential blocks of small, outdated studios into spacious, future-ready homes that are sustainable, affordable and low-carbon.
The design has delivered modern, sustainable homes within a building that had become unfit for use, while respecting conservation area context. The project has greatly improved estate-wide drainage, green space and accessibility, with landscaped courtyards, play trails and places to sit out.
It’s the latest in a series of industry recognition for the project, which picked up an ICE London award for ‘best project – asset resilience’ last year. It was also shortlisted at the Pineapples Awards and Building Awards, and highly commended at the Susdrain Awards for excellence in retrofit.
Civic centre, Wigan - Adaptive reuse into office (up to £10 million)
The transformation of Wigan’s 1960s civic centre into BREEAM Excellent workspace, dubbed ‘Civic’. We were structural and civil engineers on the project, working with Shedkm for Capital&Centric and Wigan Council.
The original precast concrete structure was built in the 1960s to house Council offices, but had been left vacant since 2018. The project focussed on retrofitting the building to provide aspirational office space which would support economic growth and provide lasting social impact in Wigan.
At the heart of the community, the centre has a host of communal facilities, including a gym, mini-cinema and ground floor coffee shop.
Our role included the repair of the exposed reinforced concrete frame; alterations and adaptations to the building structures to enable the creation of new office and amenity space. The project was also named best refurbished workspace at the BCO Northern Awards 2026.
Cocoa Works, York - Adaptive reuse into residential
We delivered the structural and civil engineering design on the flagship project to transform the iconic Rowntree’s Factory in York into an £80m residential development called The Cocoa Works. Working with Weedon Architects for Latimer, the development arm of Clarion Housing Group.
The famous site, established in 1890 and home to some of the nation’s most loved confectionery brands, including KitKat and Milkybar, has been redeveloped into 279 apartments, 30 per cent of which are affordable homes.
The project has also been shortlisted for an RTPI Yorkshire Award for Planning Excellence 2026, and at the RICS Awards 2026 in the refurbishment / revitalisation and residential categories.
It’s great to see four landmark projects recognised for leading the way in retrofit design and material reuse, congratulations to all the teams involved.
The awards will be announced at a ceremony on 24 September, so wishing all the design teams the best of luck. See you there!