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Criteria of entry

• Entries are welcome from all organisations who are involved in the shaping of the built environment.
  
  
• All projects must have been completed in the last two years (September 2005 – September 2007)
  
  
• All Places entered must be located in the West Midlands, based within postcodes of:
  Greater Birmingham B1 – B98
  Wolverhampton WV1 – WV16
  Coventry CV1 – CV37
  Dudley DY1 – DY14
  Walsall WS1 – WS15
  

Architecture
This category includes the design of new buildings of all types and sizes. The judges will be looking for qualities of commodity, firmness and delight; buildings that work well, are durable and sustainable, and are good-looking. They will expect to see designs that are informed by their context and by the characteristics of the site, and where the planning, composition and details are all of a piece, visibly related to each other and to underlying design ideas. The interior spaces will demonstrate consistent thought about spatial quality.

Urban Design
This category includes the design of masterplanned areas, complexes including a number of buildings, and urban spaces of all sizes and types.

The judges will be looking for developments that are informed by their context, and which contribute to local identity and a sense of place. Successful developments will make a positive contribution to the public realm, with a clear distinction between public and private spaces, and will demonstrate that they are sufficiently robust to support a range of uses and activities, and to respond to change over a long timescale.

Conservation
This category includes the conversion, restoration and alteration of old buildings and building fabric.

The judges will be looking for work where the restoration of fabric, the form of new additions or alterations, and the selection and use of materials, display a respect for the original, and a sympathetic relationship between new and old parts, but also an appropriate imagination. They will expect to see a clear distinction made between new and old, and a care taken in extending the useful life of old fabric.

Landscape Design
This category includes the design of outdoor spaces of all types, both public and private, with either planting or hard elements, or both.

The judges will be looking for schemes that have a distinctive character, establish an appropriate sense of place, and are designed to appeal directly to the human senses. Design, detailing and materials will be attractive, robust and sustainable, will support a range of uses and activities which might be expected, and will enable maintenance to be effective and economic.

Green Design
This category is wide-ranging, and includes the design of new buildings and the adaptation of old buildings, landscape design and urban spaces.

The judges will be looking for schemes that demonstrate a responsible, intelligent and creative approach to the impact of development upon the earth’s ecology. This may take such forms as local sourcing of materials, reduction of energy consumption, encouragement of wildlife and biodiversity, and reduction in waste and pollution, in all cases allied to high standards of design.

Interior Design
This category includes the design of interior spaces of all types, both public and private, both in new buildings and in the adaptation of old buildings.

The judges will be looking for spaces which demonstrate consistent and deliberate thought about spatial quality, resulting in high quality and memorable places. They will fulfill their purpose, be comfortable and enjoyable to be in, and will successfully integrate the elements of space, structure, materials and environmental services.