Our project The Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Building for Three Counties Medical School, University of Worcester has been shortlisted for RIBA West Midlands Regional Award 2025.
Located on the banks of the River Severn the former printworks for the Worcester news was constructed in 1965 with a bespoke design for the curating, editing, printing and distribution of the local newspaper.
The adaption of the building into a school of Health Wellbeing and Medicine required an imaginative and bold design strategy. The existing brutalist concrete building was devoid of natural light, with obscured rooflights. The focus on re-use rather than demolition was a key design driver.
The buildings exposed concrete, expressed detailing and strong rooflight forms, have been carefully adapted within the final solution, expressing structural lines in the façade, with a new high-performance finish, delivering a high level of energy efficiency and air tightness, also maximising daylight to the whole building through the refurbished north light rooflights.
Now a distinctive focal building on the campus, in which future doctors, nurses, paramedics and healthcare professionals will be trained to support the NHS. The architecture focuses on inclusivity, with the creation of calm and welcoming teaching spaces.
The scheme has achieved SKA gold and an A rated Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) delivered by GNA with careful specification and reuse of existing finishes and materials.
We are immensely proud that the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Building has been shortlisted for a RIBA Regional Award. This recognition is a testament to the dedication and collaboration of our team in transforming a brutalist concrete building into a dynamic, inclusive, and inspiring learning environment for the University of Worcester. Our design approach focused on enhancing natural light, accessibility, and wellbeing—creating a space that not only supports medical education but fosters a sense of community for students and staff alike. It has been a privilege to work on a project that repurposes an important piece of local history into a future-facing facility for healthcare education.
Last year the project was awarded ‘Best Private Medical Facility’ at the Building Better Healthcare Awards 2024 and was also shortlisted for the AJ Architecture Award.