All three county venues shortlisted claimed prestigious titles

Three Grand Designs-style buildings in Derbyshire have been crowned the best in the region. Impressively-built properties in the county towns of Belper and Chesterfield and the village of Duffield are all 2022 RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) East Midlands Awards winners.

The £12.7 million Ada Belfield Centre and Belper Library, ultra-modern Duffield family home Derwent Valley Villa, and modernist red-brick Chesterfield home Ravine House are among five venues which were presented with the top titles at a ceremony this evening (Tuesday, May 24). That means all three of the county venues shortlisted ended up taking home awards from the RIBA headquarters in London.

Belper Library is now open after being completed by Glancy Nicholls Architects in summer 2020. The Ada Belfield Centre facility, which was formerly a Thorntons factory, provides 40 dementia-friendly residential bedrooms, with associated ancillary spaces, a lounge, dining areas and activity spaces.

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In addition, the development provides communal facilities including a café, restaurant and public library service. The site itself is situated in Belper town centre within a UNESCO World Heritage site, and the development has seen historically significant facades retained, refurbished and incorporated into the scheme.

Derwent Valley Villa is a new-build family home set on an open site, at the heart of the village of Duffield, constructed by Blee Halligan.

Described as a "unique 1960s modernist house" constructed by Chiles Evans + Care Architects, Ravine House is a private property set within a "stunning wooded site" in the Chesterfield area to the north of the county.

The overall East Midlands Building of the Year winner was The Lyth Building at Nottingham Trent University’s (NTU) Brackenhurst Campus by Evans Vettori Architects. Simon Allford, RIBA President, said: “Winning a regional Building of the Year Award is a major achievement. Across the country projects have been selected for this accolade because they are exemplars of the very best of innovative, intelligent and delightful design.

"The results of positive collaboration between architect and client, and design team and contractor, demonstrate that high quality, sustainable architecture can positively impact the lives of the people that engage with it. My warmest congratulations to all those involved.”

All RIBA East Midlands Award winners will now be considered for a highly-coveted RIBA National Award in recognition of their architectural excellence, which will be announced next month. The shortlist for the RIBA Stirling Prize for the best building of the year will be drawn from the RIBA National Award-winning projects later in the year.

Check out the photo gallery below to see inside the three Derbyshire buildings which picked up awards:

Derwent Valley Villa sits at the heart of the village of Duffield, and was constructed by Blee Halligan

A view inside the new-build family home in the Amber Valley town

'Inspired by the historic 18th-century red-brick cotton mills that are plentiful in this area, possessing functional elegance and strong, unapologetic proportions, this family home is designed to bridge between the familiar village street scene of Edwardian terraced houses, yet harnessing an architecture that is bolder and purposeful.'

'The house is built of red brick to fit in with the Accrington stock used in the region. The elevations introduce precast concrete banding as lintels and capping stones, and the lower portion is defined with blue brick, whilst the upper level is of lighter red stocks.'

The £12.7 million Ada Belfield Centre and Belper Library is now open after being completed by Glancy Nicholls Architects in summer 2020

The development provides communal facilities including a café, restaurant and the public library service pictured

The facility, which was formerly a Thorntons factory, provides 40 dementia-friendly residential bedrooms, with associated ancillary spaces, a lounge, dining areas and activity spaces

Described as a 'unique 1960s modernist house', Ravine House is a private property which has seen a major transformation

It is set within a 'stunning wooded site' in the Chesterfield area to the north of the county