Preston Bus Station competition draws keen response

The design and architectural competition for Preston Bus Station has received expressions of interest from 125 architecture practice in 16 countries since its launch two weeks ago.

So far there have been 8,000 unique visits to the bus station competition webpage, from 80 different countries as far afield as Azerbaijan and Venezuela.

The plans will see an investment of around £13m in Preston's iconic bus station, which will transform the public space and become home to the new Preston Youth Zone – while preserving the building's unique Grade II listed brutalist architecture.

Cllr Jennifer Mein, the leader of Lancashire County Council, said: "We're absolutely delighted at the strong level of interest in this competition, since it was launched less than a fortnight ago.

"We hope that this will lead to some outstanding plans coming forward to develop this iconic building.

"This is an exciting time and good news for Preston and Lancashire in general. We're looking forward to seeing the ideas that come from our competition. It's important that we protect the integrity of this listed building, while creating an exciting new facility for generations of our young people."

The architectural competition is being run by the Royal Institute of British Architects, on behalf of the county council and Preston Youth Zone.

To find out more about the competition, visit www.ribacompetitions.com/preston