Was your project completed between October 2021 and January 2024 and been in occupation for a year? Then you can now enter the 2025 RIAS Awards.

Early bird discount: 29 November 2024 (save 10% on your entry fee!) | Submission Deadline: 10 January 2025 (17.00) 

Why enter the RIAS Awards?

The RIAS Awards are the pinnacle of Scottish architecture. By winning a RIAS Award, your work is eligible to be entered into both the Stirling Prize and the Andrew Doolan Best Building in Scotland Award.

The RIAS Awards are regarded by the public and practices as one of the most valuable ways of getting your work seen. Winning a RIAS Award gives your work the recognition it deserves. Being an award-winning practice can help you to build your customer base, give you increased exposure, motivate your team, and attract new employees.

Categories

Categories for the RIAS Awards are based on project value, and are broken down into the 6 brackets listed below. When purchasing your entry, please ensure that you're selecting the category that is relevant to your project. In addition, there are 6 RIAS Special Category Awards that you may submit for.

  • Up to £500k

  • £500k - £1m

  • £1m - £5m

  • £5m - £10m

  • £10m - £20m

  • Over £20m

RIAS Special Category Awards

You can also enter your project into any of the 6 RIAS Special Category Awards, if relevant. You may choose to provide additional information to support your entry.

RIAS / Laurence McIntosh Award for Architectural Interior

As part of the annual RIAS Awards scheme, Laurence McIntosh are sponsoring the Architectural Interior Award. This serves to identify and reward architectural interior design excellence, celebrating designs that shape the buildings we live, work and play in ranging from homes, clubs, hotels and offices to healthcare and educational facilities. The award recognises that architectural projects have a focus on the interior layout of a building and the importance that design excellence has in enhancing the user experience of a building. Entries nominated for this award are judged on the innovative use of interior space, the movability through the space, use of materials, the aesthetic and interior fit-out.

RIAS/Luths Services Sustainability Award

New for 2024, we are delighted to have Luths Services on board to sponsor a sustainability award this year. More info soon

RIAS /Equitone Project Architect Award

This category is for Project Architect of the Year. The RIAS Chartered Member will be judged on their leadership and the excellence of their contribution towards the award winning project. The Project Architect Award will celebrate distinction in the design expertise vital in transforming the user experience of the building and the quality of their design interventions

RIAS/TSA Scotland's Client of the Year Award

Sponsored by The Survey Association, this award highlights how the role of the client is vitally important in allowing architects to deliver exceptional buildings. As well as articulating a sound brief a good client can inspire, inform and enlighten the design process and play a fundamental role in its evolution.

RIAS/TCM Capital Innovation Award

New for 2025 and sponsored by TCM Capital, this award celebrates architecture which pushes the boundaries of traditional architecture through creativity, sustainability, and construction.

RIAS / Confor/ TDUK Timber Award

Confor and TDUK have come together to sponsor an award that encourages the innovative and creative use of timber in new buildings in Scotland. The award seeks also to stimulate greater appreciation of homegrown timber and its potential for use in construction, with added consideration given to thoughtful and appropriate use of different species. Technical competence is paramount and the design and detail of how the timber is used will be as much a part of the assessment criteria as imagination and overall architectural excellence. There is no restriction on the building type or scale of the project – from small to large and from domestic to commercial, the challenge is to show how suited the use of timber is to the development of new architecture in Scotland.

RIAS / VELUX Architectural Heritage Award

The Architectural Heritage Award with support partner VELUX. This category is for projects that enhance and preserve the character of the historic buildings within its setting. They will be judged on their approach to conservation and use of techniques that significantly deliver sustainable solutions to conserving our built heritage. The RIAS Heritage Award will celebrate distinction in historic building conservation, with a focus on the design expertise vital in transforming the user experience of the building, all the while cutting our carbon footprint. Projects nominated for this award are judged on the quality of their heritage design interventions and the transformational impact of the project on the intended user of the building and the wider community.

RIAS & RIBA Awards

The RIAS Awards are running in tandem with the RIBA Awards. Submission to the RIAS Awards entitles entrants to be considered for the following awards: 

  • RIAS Awards including including the RIAS Special Awards

  • RIAS Andrew Doolan Best Building in Scotland Award, 

  • RIBA Awards including RIBA National Award, RIBA Client of the Year, RIBA House of the Year, Stephen Lawrence Prize and the Neave Brown Award for Housing.

  • RIBA Stirling Prize. 

Please note: to be eligible for a RIBA Award the entrant must be a current RIBA or RIAS Chartered member or RIBA International Fellow. 

RIBA National Award: A RIBA National Award is given to a building for its national significance and its contribution to architecture in the UK. Awarded to the buildings that set national standards for good architecture, successful projects should demonstrate design excellence, be fit for purpose and be sustainable. Only projects that have won a RIAS Award (i.e. a Regional Award) will be eligible for a RIBA National Award. RIBA National Award winners will be considered for the RIBA Stirling Prize.  

RIAS Andrew Doolan Best Building in Scotland Award: Winners of the RIAS Awards will become the “longlist” for the RIAS Andrew Doolan Best Building in Scotland Award. Winners of a RIBA National Award will automatically form part of the shortlist for the RIAS Andrew Doolan Best Building in Scotland Award and may be visited by a separate jury prior (who will decide the final shortlisted projects) to the ceremony being held in the autumn. The Winner(s) of the Doolan Award will receive a RIAS Gold Medal together with a cash award. 

Eligibility criteria 

All types of architectural projects are eligible, including conservation, conversions, extensions, interiors, new-build, public realm, regeneration, and restoration. Entries to the RIAS Awards 2025 may be submitted by architects, clients, or users. However, all projects require client approval and must meet the entry criteria below. Submitted projects must: 

  • be located in Scotland

  • be completed between October 2021 and January 2024 

  • have a chartered architect as principal of the practice, lead designer or project manager, 

  • have a minimum of 20% of qualifying staff within the submitting practice as RIAS members (Scottish-based entrants) or a minimum of 20% of qualifying staff as RIBA members or overseas equivalent (entrants outwith Scotland), 

Please note: to be eligible, the scheme must have been occupied by January 2024 (one year before the deadline for entries for 2025). Partially-occupied commercial and housing projects are subject to approval, please email awards@rias.org.uk

What do I need to submit? 

Please make sure you have all the information that you will need to complete the form before starting. You can access the form as often as you wish prior to submitting your information in order to see what fields need to be completed but you cannot save and return to the form. If you are having any trouble with your entry form please contact awards@rias.org.uk 

In order to complete your submission form you will need the following information: 

Project & practice information 

  • Project name  

  • Practice name and address 

  • Project address (including directions/ google map link) 

  • Gross internal area (sqm)

  • Net internal area (sqm)

  • Contract value and cost per square metre  

  • Date of planning approval 

  • Date of completion

  • Date of occupation 

  • Contact details for project director/architect and client, including date of qualification of architects involved (this is particularly relevant for RIBA special category awards). 

If you worked in collaboration with another practice or architect then you must all be in agreement on the entry and how the building should be credited. 

Key consultants 

Please include the company name, contact name and email address for each key consultant (i.e. main contractor, QS, M&E engineer, project manager). Details of further consultants can be included in the ‘Additional Consultants’ section. These consultants may be credited in press and online content. You should also include a list of your colleagues who were also part of the architectural team working on the project. 

Project Summary

100 words providing an overview of your project, written in the third person.

Should you win a RIAS or RIBA Award, this will feature on the RIAS/RIBA website and RIBA Journal. This should help people understand the project immediately, giving necessary context. Please ensure no information that any party wishes to be kept confidential is included in this summary. RIAS/RIBA reserves the right to edit the project summary before publishing.

Project description 

400 words describing the project. The description should set out:  

  • how it has matched the client’s brief,  

  • an understanding of the physical and social environment of the project and to "place" (as defined from the Place Standard tool - www.placestandard.scot) 

  • an outline of the planning constraints,  

  • details of materials and method of construction,  

  • a summary of the timetable, programme, and budget constraints, and where applicable,  

  • a short statement on how the building contributes to its society, meets the principles of inclusive design and responds to the RIAS sustainable principles/ statement. The RIBA and RIAS are committed to meeting the challenges of Climate Emergency and resource depletion and raising the understanding of sustainability within the profession. This issue is at the heart of the RIAS strategy - "Creating space for inspiring conversations" which can be read on the RIAS website. 

  • Additional 150 word description if you are entering any of the special categories. Guidance on the special categories are included on the entry form. 

Sustainability Criteria

All projects are expected to meet statutory targets in achieving sustainable outcomes and measure and verify how they perform. Within the entry form we will ask for different levels of information depending on the size of your project, but please complete as many questions as possible so that we can understand the credentials of your scheme.  You can download a full list of the sustainability questions as a Word document here.

RIAS Special Category Awards

You can provide an additional 150 word description if you are entering any of the RIAS Special Category Awards. Guidance on this year’s Special Category Awards and their criteria can be found above, or on the entry form.

Images 

  • Entrants are required to submit ten high-res digital JPEG photos (please try to restrict file size to 10MB per image) 

  • Please submit individual images – not montages – exterior and interior photographs as appropriate  

  • Do not brand, caption, frame or otherwise alter photographs 

  • IMPORTANT: Supply photographer credits with all photographs and make sure you name all images indicating practice name, project name and photographer, i.e. “architect - project (c) photographer” – if your images are not uploaded with the correct credits, you may be asked to re-submit. 

Please note that images of shortlisted projects will be included in PR material so copyright consent is required and is entirely the responsibility of submitting practices. 

By submitting digital photography you are agreeing to its use by the RIAS / RIBA for these awards (and any related) processes. As the initial shortlisting process is entirely based on assessment of the photos, drawings and text provided, we strongly recommend commissioning a professional architectural photographer. If this is not possible, we have provided some guidance notes here. 

Drawings 

Each entry must include six plans or other drawings in editable pdf or jpeg format (max 2MB each) 

Awards Timeline (subject to change) 

  • Launch: 17th October 2024

  • Early Bird Discount: 29th November 2024 

  • Submission Deadline: 10th January 2025 (17.00) 

  • Jury Visits and Announcements - TBC 

Publicity / Filming 

Shortlisted projects for both the RIAS Awards and the Doolan Award will be included in RIAS social media campaigns and press releases as well as in the RIAS Quarterly. It is the intention to make short films about each of the Doolan shortlisted projects prior to the announcement in the autumn.  

FAQs

Re-submission  

Entries that have been unsuccessful at RIAS shortlisting stage (no award given) in the preceding year can be re-submitted and will be considered for both RIAS and RIBA (National) Awards, providing they meet the criteria above and the relevant entry fee is paid to the RIAS. 

Financial Help  

We provide financial support via discounted or free entry for architects and practices without the financial resources to enter our RIAS Awards programme. Please note that applications will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Please fill out this contact form here and a member of the team will be in touch.