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Theatre wins Stirling Prize

THE Everyman Theatre, built by Northern Ireland contractor Gilbert-Ash, has won the most prestigious award in the architecture industry, beating the Shard, the Library of Birmingham and the London Aquatics Centre.

The Stirling Prize, named after the great British architect James Stirling, is awarded for the best building in the UK as decided by RIBA chartered architects and International Fellows, or in the rest of the EU by RIBA chartered architects. The awards ceremony was televised live by the BBC.

The Everyman Theatre is a new-build project that has maintained many of the features of an old building through the use of recycled materials and exposed brick. It was constructed on the same site as the old theatre, with the new building including a highly adaptable 400 seat performance space, rehearsal room, green room, public foyer, café, bar and supporting offices. Well-known theatre architects, Haworth Tompkins, who collected the award, spent nine years working on the project and drew on themes from their previous work at the Royal Court and Young Vic. The original theatre was taken down brick by brick and each one re-used in the new building.