York has some of the best buildings in Britain – with new ones being added all the time.
Once again, YorkMix has teamed up with York Design Awards so you can vote for your favourite new or updated build.
This year’s shortlist includes stunning new builds, conversions – and even a window.
The York Design Awards showcase the city’s architectural excellence, celebrating projects that exemplify innovation, sustainability, and respect for York’s rich heritage.
Last year’s overall winner was York Minster’s Centre of Excellence for Heritage Skills – which took the YorkMix People’s Choice Award.
Other winners included the Bustardthorpe development at York Racecourse and the Cocoa Works flats.
For 2026, two of the awards are down to you. The YorkMix People’s Choice Award, and the Young People’s Award, given to the project which is the favourite of voters aged under 18.
After perusing the candidates, you can vote online using the form below.
Or go to the exhibition at York Explore, which is on now, running till 22 June, and vote there.
You can vote for up to three schemes. The closing date is midday on Wednesday, 24 June.
Ann Reid, chair of the York Design Awards, said: “We’ve had some outstanding entries, encompassing a wide range of interesting projects from small domestic extensions through to major housebuilding and development sites, to leisure facilities.
“We also have some interesting sustainability initiatives such as green roofs, air source heat pumps, solar panels and some exciting conservation projects.
“We would encourage as many people as possible to visit the exhibition and get involved in voting for their favourite entries.”
Entries
Ibis Styles, The Mount, York
Client / developer: Splendid Hospitality
Architect / designer: Matthews Mee
Builder: RN Woolers
For an internationally recognised hotel brand it would have been easy to apply a generic design.
The designers chose to research and showcase the location’s history and specifically the site-specific heritage and architecture through relevant and creative application of materials and finishes that create a warm and inviting commercially relevant design that has become a favourite to both leisure and business guests visiting York.
Chelmsford Place, Fulford
Client / developer: Thompson Properties
Architect / designer: Brierley Groom Architects
Builder: Woodstone 1
Good design prioritises functionality, ensuring a building meets the needs of its users.
This home is carefully crafted to create intimacy, generosity, and well-being, with thoughtful spatial relationships, natural light, and a strong connection to its surrounding.
Located within a few minutes of York’s historic walls, it harmonises with its residential surroundings while embracing high-quality materials and craftsmanship for longevity and adaptability.
Sustainability is central, featuring a high thermal envelope, solar PV system and heat pumps, resulting in top-tier energy efficiency.
Beyond function, the home delights, offering family orientated open plan living at ground floor, further reception rooms at first floor level and four generous bedrooms on the upper floors.
Station hall refurbishment, National Railway Museum
Client / developer: National Railway Museum
Architect / designer: Buttress Architects
Builder: John Graham Construction
Station Hall’s renewal demonstrates how thoughtful conservation can transform a historic building into a significantly more engaging visitor experience.
Buttress Architects combined expert heritage restoration with elegant design to reveal the hall’s architectural beauty and historic significance.
Major improvements, including a new thermally efficient roof, solar panels, enhanced glazing and refined environmental controls, protect the nationally important railway collection while reducing carbon use.
The reinterpreted displays, enriched storytelling and atmospheric lighting immerse visitors in the life of a working goods shed, creating deeper emotional connections and a clearer understanding of the people and stories behind Britain’s railway heritage.
1 Innovation Close, York Science Park
Client / developer: University of York
Architect / designer: Fuse Studios
Builder: Lodestone Projects
The project involved the refurbishment of a three-storey existing building to provide circa 15,000 Sq.Ft of contemporary office space.
It’s a new home for several University of York Professional Services teams, with spaces designed to suit hybrid ways of working and flexible workspace. These include touch-down areas for quick tasks, bookable desks, dedicated Zoom pods, phone booths, and traditional meeting rooms.
This new Hub is part of the University’s plan to make better use of its existing properties. Moving Professional Services teams into this building assists in streamlining the University’s operations and ensures the creation of high-quality and efficient workspaces.
105-111 Micklegate
Client / developer: Micklegate Developments
Architect / designer: brown + company
Builder: Supercity Aparthotels
This new aparthotel development at 105-111 Micklegate draws on its historic, physical and environmental contexts to create contemporary architecture which is sensitive to its context while being unapologetically modern in its design.
The building has taken a contemporary design approach inspired by medieval building forms and enhances a significant gateway into the city centre from the south. The development contains 46 bedrooms, along with ancillary facilities for the boutique aparthotel.
The reception lounge space located at ground floor level provides active street frontage along Micklegate. Enlivening the previously dormant streetscape and bringing renewed vitality to this part of the city, the proposals showcase contextual, contemporary design, bringing delight to its visitors and enhancing its context.
East Parade
Client / developer: Alasdair and Rachel Hicks
Architect / designer: 3xa Design
Builder: Kocyk Construction
The project remodels a Victorian terraced home in Heworth to create a new music room overlooking the garden and an open plan kitchen-dining room.
The existing back extension has been partially demolished and rebuilt,
its roof extended over a new room volume articulated internally with a vaulted ceiling, storage wall and picture window.
Externally the extension expresses the relationship between new and old with a material palette of brick, slate and treated oak.
Privacy, sociability and views were important aspects of the internal reorganisation, resulting in a coherent sequence of spaces prioritising access to external areas and visual connections to the garden.
Rialto House
Client / developer: Olympian Homes
Architect / designer: GWP Architecture
Builder: GMI Construction
Fusion Students – Rialto House is a 275-bed purpose-built student accommodation scheme on Fishergate, York, completed in July 2025.
Developed by Olympian Homes, owned by Cain and operated by Fusion Students, the scheme brings forward a high quality student living environment on the site of the former Rialto Cinema.
The design responds sensitively to its historic context through its scale, massing and brick façade, while incorporating landscaped courtyards and shared spaces focused on wellbeing and community.
Achieving a BREEAM ‘Very Good’ rating, Rialto House transforms a previously underused site into a vibrant and sustainable student community.
40 Oxford Street, Holgate
Client / developer: Helene and Mathew Duncan
Architect / designer: Walker DSP Architects
Builder: Woodstone1
The new dwelling at 40 Oxford Street represents a collaborative effort to interpret contemporary living within a historic urban context.
It responds to challenges of limited space while balancing traditional and modern design, sustainability, contextual integration, privacy, natural light, and high-quality amenity for its residents.
The project demonstrates how careful design can contribute positively to the character and vitality of the conservation area and City of York.
The Round House, 126A Fulford Road
Client / developer: Trinity Services (UK)
Architect / designer: Gaby Higgs Architects
Builder: Matthew Marsh
The Round House was inspired by its location and context. It corresponds to the scale, material and detail of the adjoining Victorian property and the leafy character of Grange Garth.
It creates a focal point on a prominent corner, acknowledging The Lodge and Lighthorseman Public House, comfortably fitting into this eclectic, historical group.
The Round House is unique inside and out, with principal rooms fully panelled using salvaged joinery, period furniture, lights and mirrors. The house is complex, layered and idiosyncratic, making it curious.
Rowan House, Heslington
Client / developer: Private Client
Architect / designer: Carve Architecture
Builder: Barker Joinery & Construction
This late 20th Century detached property in a Conservation Area, was modest in size but sat in a very large plot. Our clients wanted to create a modern home more suited to this fantastic site.
The proposals looked to add a two-storey side extension and single storey and rear extension, which are finished in contrasting but complimentary materials including long format bricks and larch cladding which will weather down to a silver grey.
The resulting additions and changes, including the new windows and roof detailing, produce a house that subtly provides a soft contemporary edge to the house.
60 Goodramgate
Client / developer: York Conservation Trust
Architect / designer: York Conservation Trust
Builder: Pinnacle Conservation
York Conservation Trust is responsible for over 70 historic York buildings, from small shops to major civic buildings. Although not the largest, 60 Goodramgate, is one of our oldest and most significant properties.
The building has stood empty for several years while the project has been developed and adapted to suit the unique qualities of the site.
One of the first projects in the Trust’s newly developed 10-year plan, it exemplifies the benefits this will bring by putting an important historic building back into use and creating unique spaces that people will want to use for a long time.
77 Walmgate
Client / developer: York Conservation Trust
Architect / designer: York Conservation Trust
Builder: Woodhouse Construction
York Conservation Trust is responsible for over 70 historic York buildings, from small shops to major civic buildings. 77 Walmgate is a rare surviving timber-framed buildings on this street.
After years of mixed retail and residential, this historic building has been brought back to life as a family home, blending the old and new. A distinctly modern kitchen extension creates a new spatial arrangement that allows the building’s historic features to shine.
One of the first projects in the Trust’s newly developed 10-year plan for our estate, it exemplifies the benefits of sensitive new design to better utilise historic buildings.
Robert Harpley WWI War Memorial Window
Client / developer: Parochial Church Council
Architect / designer: N/A
Builder: Barley Studio
The Robert Abelson Harpley War Memorial window was designed by Joan Fulleylove, stained glass artist. The window was likely made in the Glass House in Fulham and installed in St Lawrence circa 1929.
Following fund raising by the congregation of St Lawrence, and generous contributions from many organisations and individuals, the window was restored by Barley Studios, ADS Scaffolding and Ebor Works and Repairs in the Autumn of 2025.
Project management was by the Church of St Lawrence. The window was rededicated by the Rt Rev Stephen Race, Bishop of Beverley, on Saturday 21 March 2026 at a service of Choral Matins.
Poppleton Community Centre
Client / developer: Trustees of the Poppleton Community Centre
Architect / designer: Paul Butler Architects
Builder: CJ Cook
The Poppleton Community Centre development’s principal aim was to provide additional space to meet increasing demand from local groups and activities.
This development delivers a carefully designed single-storey extension providing two flexible studio spaces, alongside the replacement of an ageing conservatory with a high-quality, open-plan café space.
Together, these improvements create a brighter, more welcoming and adaptable environment that supports a wider range of uses throughout the day.
The enhanced facilities reinforce the centre’s role at the heart of Poppleton, providing lasting social value and ensuring it remains a well-used and valued community asset for many years to come.
Park 18 Twenty
Client / developer: JH Shouksmiths
Architect / designer: GWP Architecture
Builder: Artium Construction
Park 18 Twenty has transformed a single-storey office and warehouse into a feature architectural frontage to an established site in York.
The development includes 6 light and spacious offices, for up to 200 people, and 6 industrial units providing varied premises for both new and existing businesses to form and grow.
The buildings use a fabric-first approach, combining high-quality materials with energy efficient systems and on-site solar generation. This sustainable approach ensures the development meets the expanding needs of local businesses.
Whilst the industrial units draw massing and materiality from adjacent units, complementing the existing context.
Joseph Rowntree Theatre Garden Room
Client / developer: Joseph Rowntree Theatre
Architect / designer: Walker Graham Architects
Builder: Woodstone 1
The new Garden Room at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre is a welcoming new space designed to enhance every visit. Set within the theatre’s forecourt, this contemporary timber pavilion provides a stylish café/bar and additional accessible toilet facilities, making the theatre more comfortable and inclusive for all.
Its fully opening frontage creates a bright, sociable space that flows out onto the forecourt, perfect for
gathering and enjoying refreshments. Carefully designed to complement the historic Grade II listed theatre, the Garden Room combines modern comfort with sensitive design, supporting the theatre’s vibrant community role and enriching the overall visitor experience.
Marygate
Client / developer: Private Client
Architect / designer: ArkleBoyce Architect
Builder: GEM Construction
Marygate is a contemporary extension and re-imagining of a neo-classical dwelling from the 1950s. Situated on one of the most historic streets in York, it is almost entirely hidden by substantial boundary walls.
Our clients, were ambitious with the brief, and bold in their choice of property. The house required vision, and the client has played a significant part in developing a scheme.
We worked with the building, rather than against it. Our approach was to trust that the design process would deliver something spectacular creating a home nestled in its own garden oasis.
Teaching block refurb, Askham Bryan College
Client / developer: Askham Bryan College
Architect / designer: Evans McDowall Architects
Builder: Lindum York
The refurbishment of the 1968 Teaching Block at Askham Bryan College demonstrates a clear and confident approach to reuse. Retaining a structurally sound building, the scheme delivers modern, flexible teaching spaces through targeted intervention rather than wholesale change.
A new entrance and consistent use of oak establish identity and strengthen campus cohesion. Comprehensive fabric and services upgrades significantly improve environmental performance, supported by photovoltaic panels.
The integration of a courtyard micro-farm embeds sustainability within the curriculum. The result is a robust, well-resolved building that transforms a previously outdated facility into a contemporary and engaging learning environment.
No1 Bedern, 25 Goodramgate
Client / developer: Burton Chambers
Architect / designer: Walker Graham Architects
Builder: Burton Chambers
Located on the junction of Goodramgate with Bedern, 25 Goodramgate dates from the C16-17 and is Listed Grade II.
The building comprises a shop at ground floor with two storeys above – which following renewal of an expired permission – has had the upper storeys renovated to create a single City Centre apartment.
Further permissions re-opened a blocked window above the Bedern arch and introduced a steel skeleton structure to stabilise the building following structural failure of the C16-17 jetty and bressummer beams.
This latter intervention introduced a steel skeleton structure alongside the fully retained historic timbers.
The success of the design? You’d never know we’d intervened!
Urban Renaissance, Fulford Road
Client / developer: Mulgrave Properties
Architect / designer: Vincent & Partners
Builder: Mulgrave Properties
Urban Renaissance, by Vincent & Partners and Mulgrave Properties, is a development consisting of four high-quality family homes, carefully arranged alongside the Grade II Listed Ousefield House.
A former military estate, the main house has been reinstated, with unsympathetic extensions removed and redeveloped into a row of modern properties.
The design retains mature trees and utilises the existing driveway, minimising intervention while reinforcing the site’s established character. Traditional forms and detailing are reinterpreted through a refined palette of Flemish-bond bricks, timber and zinc cladding.
Thoughtfully designed, elegant and characterful, the homes form a contemporary enclave within Fulford Road’s historic streetscape.
Beverley Court, 17 Shipton Road
Client / developer: Inglehurst Property
Architect / designer: Vincent & Partners
Builder: Southbank Homes
Beverley Court, by Vincent & Partners and Inglehurst Property, is an ambitious residential development in Clifton, providing 21 unique, luxury apartments, all set within peaceful courtyard gardens.
Formerly the Joseph Rowntree offices, the historic Beverley House has been sensitively restored, with a 1980s extension demolished and modest interventions intent on highlighting the villa’s heritage character.
Located on Shipton Road, the development neighbours detached stately homes, Ouse Lea, a 1960s modernist housing scheme, and the woodlands of Homestead Park. New build apartments respond to this context, with their bold cubist forms, contrasting buff brick and traditionally inspired detailing balancing the streetscape.
Duncombe Square
Client / developer: City of York Council
Architect / designer: Mikhail Riches Architects
Builder: Caddick Construction
Duncombe Square delivers 34 high-quality homes that respond sensitively to context while setting new standards for sustainable living in York.
Developed in line with the Housing Delivery Programme’s five principles, the scheme provides much-needed housing through inclusive, accessible design, generous space standards, and strong community focus.
Passivhaus certification ensures exceptional energy performance, reducing carbon emissions and energy bills while enhancing comfort and wellbeing. A vibrant central green and carefully designed public realm foster social interaction and connection to place.
Through collaboration and a commitment to design quality, the scheme creates a distinctive, low-carbon neighbourhood that inspires future housing in York.
Bootham Bar
Client / developer: City of York Council
Architect / designer: Donald Insall Associates
Builder: City of York Council
Bootham Bar, a Grade I-listed Scheduled Monument, has been discreetly upgraded so that it may continue to stand proudly in the City of York. Repairs were intentionally designed to go unnoticed while securing historic fabric.
The roof had deteriorated over many years, with a leaking mid century lead covering and decayed timber structure, worsened by a single internal rainwater pipe. The project replaced the roof and redesigned the rainwater disposal system to the highest conservation standards, improving durability and climate resilience.
Using robust materials and detailing, the works provide a life expectancy of well over 100 years, safeguarding this important historic gateway for future generations.
