The RIBA Stirling Prize is an annual award of a building judged to be the ‘building of the year’. More commonly known for its appreciation of new buildings, it made a stunning decision in 2013 to award a delicate, yet bold, renovation of Astley Castle by Witherford Watson Mann Architects. Click here to read my blog from 2014.

The shortlist for the RIBA 2019 Stirling Prize has been released today, and of the six buildings to be judged in October one is a beautiful renovation and development of an opera theatre within the stable yard of the Grade II* listed stable block at the Nevill Holt Hall Preparatory School, Leicestershire, itself Grade I listed. As if an echo from 2013 Nevill Holt Opera is by Witherford Watson Mann Architects.

You can read more about the carefully crafted scheme here.

To read about the other five buildings it is up against click here. The shortlist, as you may expect, is bursting with innovation, quality and architectural delight, but we will be hoping for a win for the Nevill Holt Opera project as it celebrates careful respect for history and creates its own layer of history in an innovative, brave, yet sensitive solution within an historic setting.