Heritage retrofits take centre stage in AJ Architecture Awards 2025 shortlist

The Architects’ Journal’s Part 3 shortlist highlights conservation-led projects — from Saltdean Lido’s energy‑efficient revival to the Warburg Renaissance and major civic refurbishments — signalling a shift towards adaptable, community‑centred reuse of historic buildings.

Architects’ Journal’s Architecture Awards 2025 shortlist for Part 3 foregrounds heritage, education and refurbishment as a spine of the year’s discourse on how historic spaces can adapt to contemporary use. Within the heritage category, Saltdean Lido, restored by RH Partnership Architects, stands as a high-profile example of a coastal landmark reimagined for modern needs, balancing conservation with energy-efficient upgrades to keep the 1938 complex vibrant and accessible for year‑round community life. Nearby, Haworth Tompkins’ Warburg Renaissance reinvigorates the Warburg Institute in Bloomsbury, reopening Holden’s historic fabric to public access while expanding teaching and cultural programming and preserving the interior timber detailing that marks the building’s early 20th‑century character. Together, these projects illustrate the AJ panel’s emphasis on responsible conservation that both respects memory and enables active use.

In the same breath, the shortlist recognises signature interventions in dense urban contexts that marry preservation with contemporary programme. Soho Theatre Walthamstow, housed in the Grade II* Granada Cinema, has been carefully reconfigured by Pilbrow & Partners with Bond Bryan to preserve Cecil Masey’s Moorish-inspired exterior and the auditorium’s celebrated interior detailing, while enabling modern programming, backstage upgrades and inclusive access. The reopening in May 2025 marks a milestone in the borough’s culture‑led regeneration, a narrative the Bond Bryan project page frames as a careful balance between heritage sensibility and contemporary audience needs. The inclusion of Saltdean Lido alongside these urban restorations underscores a broader commitment to heritage‑led retrofit as a catalyst for community resilience and ongoing public life.

The education and refurbishment strands complete the picture with a portfolio of retrofit strategies that repurpose and extend the life of existing buildings. The Waterman in Clerkenwell, a major heritage retrofit by Fathom Architects, fuses four Victorian warehouses into a single 70,000 sq ft workspace for BGO, prioritising legible floorplates, new public and social spaces, and an uplifted envelope that reduces embodied carbon. The project’s shortlisting by the AJ Retrofit & Reuse panel for 2024–25 sits alongside Walworth Town Hall, where Feix&Merlin’s refurbishment converts a Grade II* civic landmark into a 50,000 sq ft hub for creative workspaces and a public community centre, incorporating mass timber and a new circulation spine to marry heritage with contemporary use. Taken together, these schemes reflect a shifting ambition within education and public buildings: to teach, learn and create within places that honour their past while offering flexible, inclusive environments for the present and future.

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Source: Noah Wire Services

Noah Fact Check Pro

The draft above was created using the information available at the time the story first
emerged. We’ve since applied our fact-checking process to the final narrative, based on the criteria listed
below. The results are intended to help you assess the credibility of the piece and highlight any areas that may
warrant further investigation.

Freshness check

Score:
4

Notes:
⚠️ Much of the narrative is an aggregate of earlier project press releases and project pages rather than wholly original reporting. Earliest matching items found: RH Partnership’s Saltdean Lido announcement (06 Aug 2024). ([rhpartnership.co.uk](https://www.rhpartnership.co.uk/news/saltdean-lido-is-back?utm_source=chatgpt.com)) Warburg Institute / Haworth Tompkins published completion/reopen material in Oct 2024. ([warburg.sas.ac.uk](https://warburg.sas.ac.uk/news/warburg-institute-reveals-ps145-million-transformation?utm_source=chatgpt.com)) Soho Theatre Walthamstow / council and theatre PR appeared Jan–May 2025 ahead of the May 2025 reopening. ([sohotheatre.com](https://sohotheatre.com/news/soho-theatre-walthamstow-announces-initial-programming/?utm_source=chatgpt.com), [walthamforest.gov.uk](https://www.walthamforest.gov.uk/libraries-arts-parks-and-leisure/arts-and-culture/soho-theatre-walthamstow-opening-may-2025?utm_source=chatgpt.com)) The Waterman (Fathom) coverage appears March–May 2025. ([bdonline.co.uk](https://www.bdonline.co.uk/news/in-pictures-fathom-completes-one-of-clerkenwells-largest-heritage-office-projects/5136155.article?utm_source=chatgpt.com)) Walworth Town Hall (Feix&Merlin / General Projects) material was posted in 2024–25. ([feixandmerlin.com](https://feixandmerlin.com/walworth-town-hall/?utm_source=chatgpt.com)) 🕰️ Because these substantive elements were published months (and in several cases >7 days) earlier, the piece should be flagged as recycled/aggregated content rather than entirely fresh. ✅ However, the AJ shortlist framing (announcement of shortlist inclusion) is timely by comparison — AJ’s awards shortlists are contemporary updates (AJ’s related shortlist pages appear July–Aug 2025). ([architectsjournal.co.uk](https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/aj-retrofit-reuse-awards-2025-shortlist-2-conservation-decarbonisation-and-future-reuse?utm_source=chatgpt.com), [sayart.net](https://sayart.net/news/view/1065619206805543?utm_source=chatgpt.com))

Quotes check

Score:
6

Notes:
⚠️ No novel, exclusive verbatim quotes were found inside the submitted text, but wording in the narrative mirrors language from architects’ and clients’ press pages (for example Bond Bryan / Waltham Forest and project pages include similar celebratory phrasing about the Soho Theatre reopening). ([bondbryan.co.uk](https://bondbryan.co.uk/project/soho-theatre-walthamstow/?utm_source=chatgpt.com), [sohotheatre.com](https://sohotheatre.com/news/soho-theatre-walthamstow-announces-initial-programming/?utm_source=chatgpt.com)) 🔎 Earliest appearances of such quoted/celebratory phrasing are on the project/press pages referenced above (i.e. developer/architect PR precedes the shortlist write‑up). If the AJ piece attributes quotes, editors should check that any quoted text is correctly attributed to the original press release or spokesperson. If the article contains any unique quoted material not found elsewhere online, it would raise originality — but in this case most lines are paraphrase/reuse of existing PR content.

Source reliability

Score:
8

Notes:
✅ The principal organisations cited are reputable: Architects’ Journal (industry publication), Haworth Tompkins, R H Partnership, Bond Bryan, Fathom Architects, Feix&Merlin, the Warburg Institute and local council pages — all have public, verifiable presences and detailed project pages. ([haworthtompkins.com](https://www.haworthtompkins.com/work/the-warburg-renaissance?utm_source=chatgpt.com), [rhpartnership.co.uk](https://www.rhpartnership.co.uk/news/saltdean-lido-is-back?utm_source=chatgpt.com), [bondbryan.co.uk](https://bondbryan.co.uk/project/soho-theatre-walthamstow/?utm_source=chatgpt.com), [bdonline.co.uk](https://www.bdonline.co.uk/news/in-pictures-fathom-completes-one-of-clerkenwells-largest-heritage-office-projects/5136155.article?utm_source=chatgpt.com), [feixandmerlin.com](https://feixandmerlin.com/walworth-town-hall/?utm_source=chatgpt.com)) ⚠️ Some replicated narratives also appear on aggregator or lower‑quality reposting sites (e.g. secondary news aggregators), which should not be treated as independent verification of novel claims. ([sayart.net](https://sayart.net/news/view/1065619806305375?utm_source=chatgpt.com))

Plausability check

Score:
8

Notes:
✅ Key time‑sensitive claims (Saltdean Lido reopening, Warburg Institute transformation, Soho Theatre Walthamstow reopening in May 2025, The Waterman completion, Walworth Town Hall refurbishment) are corroborated by primary project pages, council releases and major outlets (BBC/University). ([bbc.co.uk](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c7280yxvq4eo?utm_source=chatgpt.com), [warburg.sas.ac.uk](https://warburg.sas.ac.uk/news/warburg-institute-reveals-ps145-million-transformation?utm_source=chatgpt.com), [sohotheatre.com](https://sohotheatre.com/news/soho-theatre-walthamstow-announces-initial-programming/?utm_source=chatgpt.com), [bdonline.co.uk](https://www.bdonline.co.uk/news/in-pictures-fathom-completes-one-of-clerkenwells-largest-heritage-office-projects/5136155.article?utm_source=chatgpt.com), [feixandmerlin.com](https://feixandmerlin.com/walworth-town-hall/?utm_source=chatgpt.com)) ⚠️ The narrative reads like an awards shortlist summary that synthesises PR copy: plausible and well‑documented, but not investigative. If the piece claims novel data (e.g. exact job numbers, economic impact figures, cost totals) editors should verify those specific figures against the originating project press releases — some such numbers appear on architects’ pages (e.g. job/economic impact figures on Bond Bryan/Waltham Forest) and are likely drawn from developer/consultant estimates. ([bondbryan.co.uk](https://bondbryan.co.uk/project/soho-theatre-walthamstow/?utm_source=chatgpt.com))

Overall assessment

Verdict (FAIL, OPEN, PASS): PASS

Confidence (LOW, MEDIUM, HIGH): HIGH

Summary:
✅ PASS — HIGH confidence. The shortlist narrative is factually supported and aligns with primary documentation and mainstream coverage (e.g. RH Partnership / Saltdean Lido, Warburg Institute / Haworth Tompkins, Bond Bryan / Soho Theatre Walthamstow, Fathom / The Waterman, Feix&Merlin / Walworth Town Hall). ([rhpartnership.co.uk](https://www.rhpartnership.co.uk/news/saltdean-lido-is-back?utm_source=chatgpt.com), [warburg.sas.ac.uk](https://warburg.sas.ac.uk/news/warburg-institute-reveals-ps145-million-transformation?utm_source=chatgpt.com), [sohotheatre.com](https://sohotheatre.com/news/soho-theatre-walthamstow-announces-initial-programming/?utm_source=chatgpt.com), [bdonline.co.uk](https://www.bdonline.co.uk/news/in-pictures-fathom-completes-one-of-clerkenwells-largest-heritage-office-projects/5136155.article?utm_source=chatgpt.com), [feixandmerlin.com](https://feixandmerlin.com/walworth-town-hall/?utm_source=chatgpt.com)) ‼️ Major credibility caveat: the piece is primarily an aggregation of project press material and prior reporting (many project pages and press releases date from 2024–May 2025). ([rhpartnership.co.uk](https://www.rhpartnership.co.uk/news/saltdean-lido-is-back?utm_source=chatgpt.com), [warburg.sas.ac.uk](https://warburg.sas.ac.uk/news/warburg-institute-reveals-ps145-million-transformation?utm_source=chatgpt.com), [bondbryan.co.uk](https://bondbryan.co.uk/project/soho-theatre-walthamstow/?utm_source=chatgpt.com), [bdonline.co.uk](https://www.bdonline.co.uk/news/in-pictures-fathom-completes-one-of-clerkenwells-largest-heritage-office-projects/5136155.article?utm_source=chatgpt.com)) 🕰️ Because similar content appeared more than seven days earlier in multiple cases (months earlier for some projects), this reduces its originality/freshness even though the AJ shortlist framing is timely. ⚠️ Editors should therefore: (1) label reused PR language where appropriate and confirm correct attribution of any direct quotes; (2) double‑check any numeric claims (jobs, financial impact, sq ft, completion dates) against the originating project/press pages cited above; and (3) be cautious about treating aggregator repostings as independent confirmation. ✅ Strengths: reliable institutions and multiple independent corroborations (incl. BBC / University of London / project teams). ‼️ Residual risk: recycled PR text and secondary reposts — flag in editorial notes for transparency.