Mike Stiff judges winners at the 2025 Building Beauty Awards

Mike Stiff was recently asked to join the judging panel of the Royal Fine Art Commission Trusts' Building Beauty Awards and last Monday night, (24 November 2025), the award winners were announced at an intimate celebration of beauty in architecture.  These awards recognise buildings, engineering structures and urban landscaping schemes that ‘add beauty to Britain’s built environment’.

The overall winner was Stonewood Design’s ‘exquisitely crafted’ The Story of Emily Museum in Cornwall.  This project was also presented with the Little Gem award. Tonkin Liu triumphed in the Building category for its Centre of Excellence for Heritage Skills at York Minster. Diller Scofidio + Renfro won the Public award for its depository for the V&A’s collections, set within the Here East building in Stratford.

The Engineering category went to the new 43m-long hardwood and steel boardwalk on the western side of Canada Dock in Rotherhithe, south London, by engineer Whitby Wood with Asif Khan Studio and Townshend Landscape Architects.

The Trust was set up in 1987 as a complement to the Royal Fine Art Commission, the Government’s independent adviser on matters affecting public amenity and aesthetics in England and Wales. Over the past four decades, it has sought to promote visual awareness and public appreciation of high-quality design,