Assembly wins RIBA South West & Wessex Award

We are delighted to announce that Assembly Bristol received a RIBA South West & Wessex Award at their recent annual awards ceremony on 7th May.

The Awards recognise innovative building materials, sensitive conversions and homes with a difference. Sam Goss, South West Wessex Jury Chair, commented: “Through the careful orchestration of streets, structure, facade, and shared spaces, Assembly Bristol repairs a fractured urban condition while creating a vibrant workplace community.”

Developed for AXA Real Estate and Bell Hammer Ltd by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris, the scheme’s hierarchy of three buildings shapes the spaces and frames a connecting vista from Pip and Jay Church to the water’s edge. These three buildings unify the campus while possessing a distinct character of their own.

Transforming a long vacant site adjacent to the city’s inner circuit road and Floating Harbour, the Assembly Bristol campus is anchored around a waterfront park, creating a new city place that positively engages with the city, brings colour to the skyline and links the waterside with a restored historic street, Cheese Lane.

Building A holds the street edge, protecting the waterfront park from the clamour of traffic. It lifts and spans Cheese Lane with a heroic structure to create a lofty entrance portal into the campus centre. Building B is the smaller of the trio standing at seven storeys, enjoying a gentle waterside setting while Building C, the tallest building reaching 14 storeys, brings sculptural height over the public realm.

The campus champions sustainability and innovation, reducing embodied carbon through exposed structures celebrating the buildings’ mechanics and minimising material waste through efficient construction, which delivered a 26% saving on embodied carbon emissions compared to other new build office developments in Bristol.

The project will now be considered for an RIBA National Award. You can read more about the Regional Award on the RIBA Journal website here.

Image credit: AHMM - Allford Hall Monaghan Morris