Most recently, RIBA South West has released its list of the 16 shortlisted buildings for the South West’s RIBA Awards. Having shortened the original list of entries down from 49, the present 16 represent some of the newest and most innovative buildings around, of which RIBA’s very own panel of judges will be touring for the awards. Having been in operation since 1966, the RIBA Awards are both presented and judged on a local level, setting the benchmark for architecture across the entirety of the UK. Most specifically, the awards are for those buildings by International Fellows and Chartered Architects with RIBA. As a keen champion of driving forward architectural standards and practices across the UK, of course, the awards are widely recognised and respected by the wider industry. As John Watkins, South West Regional Director for RIBA comments: “RIBA Awards always bring out the best in the national architects across our vast region.” As such, this year’s list presents a a diverse range of archetype, design form, size, scale and overall innovation to represent a vast range of areas for architectural excellence. Of the awards up for grabs, there is the well-regarded Building of the Year Award in addition to a number of category-specific awards to provide a variety of different awards for organisations to aim towards. For this, the winners are to be announced on the 29th of April at the Grand Pier at Weston-super-Mare. And of those nominated for awards, as aforementioned, a range of different building archetypes are represented on the shortlist, including a mixture of educational buildings and structures, creative and performing arts centres, public buildings and even training centres for more practical pursuits – please see the RIBA website for a complete source of those shortlisted for an award and for future updates on them.