RICS Community Benefit Award
The Word has received the Community Benefit Award at the prestigious RICS Awards Grand Final 2017. This national accolade places the community library and cultural centre among the UK’s best new buildings of 2017.
The event, which took place at the Intercontinental Hotel in London, showcased the most inspirational initiatives and developments in land, property, construction and the environment.
RICS judges said The Word sets a standard which other towns should aspire to, praising the building for transforming its immediate surroundings, and providing a link between the town centre and the riverside areas of the town.
The Word has now collected nineteen major awards, including Social Infrastructure Project of the Year at the British Construction Industry Awards, an RIBA National Award and the CIAT Award for Excellence in Architectural Technology.
The building is due to compete against the world's best architecture at the World Architecture Festival (WAF) which takes place in Berlin from 15th-17th November. The Word is shortlisted in the 'Culture - Completed Buildings’ category and if successful, will be considered for the overall title of World Building of the Year 2017.
Steve McIntyre, Partner at FaulknerBrowns, said: “Embracing the client’s ambition for The Word we set out to provide the people of South Shields and visitors to the town with much more than just a library. We set out to create a place for people. A place where the community can delight in the written word and explore their own creativity and the opportunities it creates. Receiving this national award for community benefit is great reward for the hard work of the project team in delivering this ambition.”