Everyman wins Stirling Prize

Haworth Tompkins has won the 2014 RIBA Stirling Prize for the rebuilt Everyman Theatre in Liverpool, beating five other buildings to the architectural accolade.

The £28m Everyman Theatre was designed for Liverpool & Merseyside Theatres Trust. The building was in competition with Feilden Clegg Bradley's Manchester School of Art, alongside Library of Birmingham, London Aquatics Centre, London School of Economics Saw Swee Hock Student Centre and The Shard.

Everyman beat the bookies' favourite of the London School of Economics, with William Hill last week putting odds of 11/8 on the Saw Swee Hock building compared to 9/2 for Everyman.

The prize was awarded by Stephen Hodder, president of RIBA and director of Manchester-based practice Hodder & Partners. Hodder won the inaugural Stirling prize in 1996 for the Centenary Building at the University of Salford.

More than 50 buildings in the UK and Europe received RIBA National Awards in June and formed the long list from which the six finalists were selected.

Steve Tompkins, co-founder of Haworth Tompkins said: "Winning the RIBA Stirling Prize is an enormous honour for our project team and our clients, the reward for an intensive collaboration over almost a decade, during which we have grown to love the Everyman and the great city that it serves. It is also an important endorsement of our studio's ethos and an encouragement to carry on working the way we do, despite the pressures all of us are under to speed up and dumb down."

Hodder said: "The success of this exceptional new building lies in the architect's close involvement with the local community throughout the project. Haworth Tompkins have struck the perfect balance between continuity and change to win the hearts and minds of the people of Liverpool with the vibrant new Everyman. Complementing beautifully with the surrounding listed buildings, it is a ground-breaking example of how to build a daring bold and highly sustainable large public building in a historic city centre."

The contractor at Everyman Theatre was Gilbert-Ash, while CharcoalBlue provided theatre consultancy, Alan Baxter & Associates was structural engineer, and Watermans Building Services was services engineer. The scheme was project managed by GVA Acuity.