The practice won the highly-coveted accolade for its New Olympia House project, the sensitive transformation of a former Salvation Army Citadel in Glasgow’s east end into 280m2 of commercial office space, announced onto the streetscape by a sculpturalmetal entrance beacon.

The £1.7m development has been spearheaded by Clyde Gateway, Scotland’s largest regeneration company. Clyde Gateway oversaw the redevelopment of the adjacent Olympia Building, with architects Page\Park refurbishing the Grade B listed Olympia Cinema to create the Bridgeton Library, a boxing centre and lettable office accommodation above.

The completed project has created modern and flexible office space and is now the home to Scripture Union. New Olympia House is a two-storey red sandstone building within the Bridgeton Cross Conservation Area. The internal spaces have been approached with a ‘defurb’ (decluttering while refurbishing) strategy, exposing brickwork, roof trusses and existing timber linings, whilst drastically improving the energy performance of the building with new insulation throughout, air source heat pump technology and underfloor heating. The revitalised building features new additions including a platform lift to improve accessibility and a new public entrance defined by a large sculptural metal tower called the Beacon, a nod to the adjacent Bridgeton Umbrella.

The project demonstrates the practice’s expertise in giving a new lease of life to existing civic buildings and sits within a wider portfolio of retrofitwork including The Pipe Factory, a B-Listed former factory building in the city’s Barras Market, and an iconic landmark in Glasgow’s industrial heritage.

The Architect’s Journal editorial team said that the project ‘…provided a model for how a carefully judged yet bold retrofit and intervention can give a new lease of life to unused inner-city buildings, setting a precedent for how to innovatively fill gaps in the streetscape. The scheme is an exemplar of how architecture, no matter how big or small, can reinforce and recreate community spirit while on a budget.’

Martin McKay, chief executive at Clyde Gateway, said: “We bought this iconic building a few years ago because we knew this had great potential to drive investment right into the heart of Bridgeton. Just off Bridgeton Cross, it is a great space for organisations and businesses.

A key objective of this project was to ensure that we did not lose the charm of the original building. The architects O’DonnellBrown and builder Redpath Construction have carried out an excellent job in doing this whilst updating the space into a modern and energy efficient workspace.

Last year the firm welcomed Scripture Union (SU) Scotland to New Olympia House, providing a high quality office environment for SU’s work with children and families across Scotland, as well as adding real value to the local community in Bridgeton.”

Jennifer O’Donnell, director, O’DonnellBrown, said: “New Olympia House provided an exciting opportunity to repurpose a historic building and further strengthen one of Glasgow’s historic Crosses. The regeneration of Bridgeton Cross over the last decade has been tackled with ambition and care and O’DonnellBrown enjoyed working in this context with the project team and Clyde Gateway to give this local landmark a brighter future and new lease of life.”

Susan Cardwell, marketing and business development manager, Redpath Construction, added: “It has been a real privilege to be part of the transformation of the building with Clyde Gateway. As a true regeneration project, we have not only been able to breathe new life into New Olympia House, creating a bright and sustainable office space, we have also had the opportunity to support local young people through training and made lasting relationships with the fantastic team at Green Trees Nursery. There are few projects where the impact on the local community has been felt more keenly.”