HOULTON School has scooped its fourth trophy in the space of four months following a string of accolades celebrating the transformation of the former Radio Station Rugby into Houlton School.
This latest win at the Pineapple Awards follows other recent wins at the West Midlands Royal Town Planning Institute Awards, The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors Awards, and the 2022 Planning Awards.
The entry submitted by Houlton’s master developer Urban&Civic, Rugby Borough Council and lead architects on the project van Heyningen and Haward, saw the Houlton School project recognised for its ‘high quality retrofit’, which came to fruition as part of a joint venture with Aviva Investors.
The annual Pineapple Awards, delivered by Festival of Place, celebrates the very best in placemaking, recognising excellence in community engagement, activation, active travel, public space, creative retrofit and future of place.
The eccentric, colourful and celebratory live awards ceremony took place at Boxpark Wembley, situated in the heart of Wembley Park.
Houlton secondary school, which opened its doors to founding Year 7 pupils last September, underwent a meticulous restoration process by Urban&Civic to restore the building’s heritage, combining the transformation and fabric upgrade of the listed 1929 buildings with two new state of the art teaching blocks.
Johanne Thomas, Urban&Civic’s Regional Director for Communications, Communities and Partnerships, said: “We are over the moon to receive this award, validating what we know is a transformational and unique project for Houlton, Rugby and Urban&Civic.
“We’re all immensely proud of the transformation and it’s a pleasure for this to be recognised through national awards. It was wonderful to have the opportunity to celebrate with partners that worked closely with us – testament to the strength of partnership and collaboration throughout.”
