Stirling prize 2024: a two-horse race?

The big beasts of London’s Elizabeth line and King’s Cross redevelopment loom large, but newly announced regional contenders for this year’s prize should include a classy Cambridge dining hall, an all-timber office block and a wheelchair-friendly rural retreat

The longlist for this year’s Stirling prize consists of two very big projects – achievements of generational significance whose impact will endure for lifetimes – and, as in other years, a more variegated array of hard-to-compare designs, large and small, public and domestic. The big ones are the master plan for the 23-year, 67-acre redevelopment of King’s Cross in London, and the central London stations of the Elizabeth line. It’s a question whether anyone else will get a look-in for an award given to the project “considered to have made the most significant contribution to the evolution of UK architecture”.

As always, the longlist consists of winners of regional awards from all over the UK. Projects have to have been in use for at least one year, so that they can be tested a little by time. There are a total of 111 from England, Wales and Northern Ireland, which have been revealed in stages over the past few weeks. In Scotland, which follows a slightly different timetable, there are for now 17 in contention. A shortlist will be announced in September, the winner of the prize in October. There are new gems, and careful restorations of historic buildings, and well-crafted, well-funded trophies for Russell Group universities. There are a few duds, which make you wonder how they got this far, but mostly the successful entries are heartening reminders of the skill and invention of at least some British architects.