A striking office and laboratory complex near Norwich which will specialise in food, life and health sciences has scooped an architectural award.
The Ella May Barnes Building, which was completed earlier this year at Norwich Research Park, won the Non-Residential category in the Design & Craftsmanship Awards held in Norwich last week.
New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership contributed £2.5m towards the building and £1.5m towards the road infrastructure work. The facility is also located in the LEP’s Space to Innovate Enterprise Zone, which comprises 10 sites across Norfolk and Suffolk. South Norfolk Council invested £2.75m in the building and more than £550,000 towards the road infrastructure.
The Norfolk Association of Architects, Norwich Society and Civic Voice, collaboratively established the awards in 2019. In its citation, the judging panel said the Ella May Barnes Building had “real presence”.
“Architecturally the building ‘stands its ground’ in relation to the recent high-quality buildings adjacent. The sense of light in the interior is pleasing. Maximising use of natural light and solar gains is a nice feature, as well as conspicuously demonstrating the work being done inside.”
Dr Barnes OBE joined the Institute of Food Research in Norwich in 1966 and her pioneering work contributed to the development of modern food microbiology and its use in the food industry to maintain a safe supply chain.
