York St John Creative Centre scoops two awards for design excellence

York St John University’s new creative space has been announced as joint winner in the Education/Community category and Sustainability category in the York Design Awards 2022.

The York St John Creative Centre is a purpose-built, three-storey creative space where bold architecture meets innovative facilities. First opened to students in October 2021, the Centre gives a permanent new home for the University’s music and computer science courses. It also features specialist spaces for performance, creative writing and media production students.

In addition, the Centre provides a public venue for art, design, and performance in the heart of York city centre. It is available for public use, with preferential rates for local businesses and groups to help creative communities to recover following the pandemic.

Spanning three floors, the £17.2 million Creative Centre was developed by one of the UK’s leading environmental architects, Tate + Co. The building is low energy and has been designed with sustainability and adaptability in mind to cater for students’ needs and to benefit the wider community. The building project was carried out by leading construction and infrastructure service company Keir.

The York Design Awards, now in their 14th year, aim to encourage and promote excellence in design and conservation. Speaking in response to the University’s win, Vice Chancellor of York St John University Professor Karen Bryan OBE, said:

“The Creative Centre provides an awe-inspiring space for our students and staff to work collaboratively. We are proud to put creativity at the heart of our campus and are committed to ensuring talented students can achieve their potential. To be able to share this space with our wider community adds to the importance and impact of this creative space.”

Director of Estates Management at York St John University, Nick Coakley, added:

“I am delighted that the architectural judging panel for the York Design Awards recognised the significance of the educational, community and sustainability credentials of the Creative Centre to crown it joint winner in both categories. The design of the Creative Centre proves that you can provide students and our community with state-of-the-art facilities without sacrificing sustainability.”

The York Design Awards cover a wide range of categories including large and small residential development, commercial and public buildings, conservation and restoration projects and open spaces and are open to all projects completed in the last five years. For the full list of winners in this year’s awards, please see the York Design Awards website.

For more information about the architectural design process, visit the Tate + Co. website.

Details about the University's sustainability projects can be found on the York St John University website.