International station design competition now open

Design Council welcomes the launch of Network Rail’s and the RIBA’s international station design competition exploring the design of small to medium stations across the UK. The competition brief is informed by Design Council’s ThinkStation report which brings together feedback our recent wide-reaching engagement programme, where passengers and industry stakeholders shared their aspirations for our future local stations.

The competition is open internationally to individuals and collaborative teams from the design, built environment and manufacturing industries (e.g. architects, engineers, product designers, etc).  Inter-disciplinary collaboration is encouraged, as is collaboration between individuals and organisations of different size, expertise and experience.  In launching the competition, Network Rail and the RIBA we are seeking to re-affirm our commitment to good design across the nation. 

Ideas for this competition are expected to be innovative, challenge presumptions and significantly raise expectations for the quality of future station designs while also giving due consideration to cost, sustainability, railway operations, practicality, construction and maintenance.

Victoria Lee, Lead Programme Manager at Design Council who led on the ThinkStation engagement programme and a member of the competition judging panel said:

Better station design will improve our lives and help us connect better with our town centres, local communities and the environment. This competition will set a new bar for designing a passenger hub of the future, factoring in the nine priorities gathered through wide-reaching industry engagement and put forward in our ThinkStation report.  I am delighted to be representing Design Council on the judging panel and look forward to seeing the new thinking from across the industry coming forward.