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RIBA unveiled the winners of its four special awards at a live ceremony yesterday evening. 

Shortlists for the RIBA Stephen Lawrence Prize, RIBA Reinvention Award, RIBA Neave Brown Award for Housing and RIBA Client of the Year were compiled earlier in the year. 

Clementine Blakemore Architects took home the Stephen Lawrence Prize for its Dorset dairy farm Wraxhall Yard. 

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The prize was established in 1998 in memory of Stephen Lawence, a teenager and aspiring architect who was the victim of a fatal racist attack in 1993. It seeks to recognise works led by an early career project architect. 

The winning scheme was a series of 鈥榟ighly accessible鈥� holiday lets converted from the ruins of an old dairy farm. 

Fardaa鈥檚 Croft 3 on Scotland鈥檚 Isle of Mull earned the RIBA Reinvention Award. Judges looked for buildings that have been 鈥渃reatively reused鈥� to improve their environmental, social, or economic sustainability, with a focus on retrofitting. 

Located in a remote coastal community on the Isle of Mull in Scotland, Croft 3 is a transformation and extension of a ruined farm building which has been transformed into a restaurant and community space.

Judges described the scheme as an 鈥渆xemplar low carbon restoration鈥� which maximised the reuse of existing site materials and the use of furniture which was carved on the island from a single tree.

The Neave Brown Award for affordable housing was handed to Al-Jawad Pike鈥檚 11-home social housing scheme, Chowdhury Walk.

Named in honour of the late Dr Abdul Chowdhury who campaigned for additional PPE for frontline workers during the coronavirus pandemic, Chowdhury Walk is part of a programme of new generation council housing by Hackney Council. 

The jury praised the scheme鈥檚 attention to detail and the quality of its materials which make the homes feel 鈥渦plifting upon entering鈥�.

Shakespeare North Trust and Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council picked up the client of the year award for the pair鈥檚 鈥渁mbitious鈥� community regeneration project, Shakespeare North, in Prescot.

Designed by 6a Architects, the new theatre building promotes the learning, experimentation, and reinterpretation of Shakespeare鈥檚 works and includes an exhibition space, seminar rooms and both indoor and outdoor performance spaces.

Judges said the the architects and clients had 鈥渃reated a cultural and social space that has inspired and invigorated an historic Merseyside town鈥�.

The four special awards were announced yesterday alongside the Stirling Prize, the UK鈥檚 most prestigious architectural award for a new building, which was