Success at AJ Retrofit and Reuse Awards 2026
Awards for Sutton Estate for ‘Decarbonisation at Scale’ and Wigan's Civic centre for ‘Adaptive Reuse into Office’, with Campfield highly commended
We’re celebrating some fantastic recognition for projects our team has been part of, at the AJ Retrofit and Reuse Awards 2026.
The 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 Sutton Estate win the decarbonisation excellence award, and Wigan’s Civic centre win adaptive reuse into office, with Campfield also highly commended in the same category.
As first shared here, AJ’s editorial team said: ‘Retrofit it an evolving conversation. The work represented here demonstrates that the future is not necessarily about building more, but about seeing the extraordinary potential in what we already have.”
More on those brilliant projects here:
Sutton Estate, London – winner of ‘Decarbonisation at Scale’
The retrofit of Sutton Estate in Chelsea, a 100-year-old purpose-built social housing development and one of the oldest of its kind in the country, is a great example of retrofit and estate renewal.
Our structural and civil engineers worked closely with HTA, Durkan and Kensa for Clarion on the refurbishment of four residential blocks.
Transforming the small, outdated studios into spacious, future-ready homes that are sustainable, affordable and low-carbon.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.
It has also greatly improved estate-wide drainage, green space and accessibility, with landscaped courtyards, play trails and places to sit out.
Join us on NLA’s study tour of Sutton Estate on 28th October, sign up here.
The judges described the project as “Really impressive, and an exemplary for other buildings. As a fully de-gassed development, Sutton Estate is not only a remarkable retrofit but a genuinely replicable model for the many similar historic and high-density estates that exist across London.”
It’s the latest recognition for the project, after winning ICE London award for ‘best project – asset resilience’. It was also shortlisted for at the Pineapples Awards and Building Awards, and highly commended at the Susdrain Awards for excellence in retrofit.
Civic centre, Wigan – winner of ‘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 engineers on the project, to retrofit a vacant 1960s brutalist landmark, 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 providing aspirational office space which would support economic growth and provide lasting social impact in Wigan.
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.
Judges said the building was now successfully doing things its 1960s designers could only have dreamed of: “It has taken a building that could be dreaded by the community and demolished and turned it into an alive space, both inside and outside. It’s not just for people; it’s for the town, the community, the bugs, the bats, the bees. I love that about it.”
The project was also named best refurbished workspace at the BCO Northern Awards 2026, and is in the running for a BCO National Award – fingers crossed!
Campfield Market, Manchester – highly commended for ‘Adaptive reuse into office (up to £10 million)’
Campfield, the retrofit of Grade II-listed Victorian market halls in Manchester to create a campus of flexible workspaces in Manchester’s St John’s district, was also highly commended for ‘Adaptive reuse into office (up to £10 million)’.
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 provided structural engineering services, working with Project 3 Architects for Allied London. Read more about the project here.
Elsewhere, TBC.London by Stiff and Trevillion, won ‘Positive addition (£5 million and over)’.
Judges praised TBC.London as a model of low-carbon, circular retrofit. Our team of structural engineers worked closely with TBC.London’s design team, to achieve award-winning reuse of steel from one of our projects, The Elephant, which you can read more on here.
Congratulations to all of the design teams involved!