Shortlist for 2008 Prime Minister’s Better Public Building Award announced » Communities » 24dash.com

Twenty-one projects have been shortlisted for this year’s Prime Minister’s Better Public Building Award, which is sponsored jointly by CABE and the Office of Government Commerce.

They show how design can ensure that people are valued and respected in the delivery of public services – with a stunning new railway station in East London and hospitals in Lymington and Brighton.

Many of the shortlisted schemes are distinctive for their contribution to revitalising declining local economies.

The design of coastal defence has clearly moved light years beyond just keeping the sea at bay. In the former mining town of Newbiggin in Northumberland, the design incorporates an improved promenade, new beach and the UK’s first permanent off-shore sculpture. The scheme is proving a catalyst for housing and public transport, as well as attracting visitors.

In Lancashire, Cleveleys is reaping the benefits of the beautiful wave-like promenade that has transformed a dilapidated 1920s seafront.

In east London, a beautiful new station at Langdon Park, providing a vital link to the Docklands Light Railway, has given new identity to a deprived and isolated part of Tower Hamlets. New life has been brought to the centre of Barking by its distinctive Learning Centre.

The Shetland Museum and Archives in Lerwick – a striking modern interpretation of traditional structures – is attracting 10 times more visitors now and spurring the development of its formerly derelict surroundings. The new extension to the Newlyn Art Gallery is already proving a magnet, capturing as it does the unique quality of Cornwall’s light and landscape.

The shortlist this year also includes cultural landmarks that are delighting audiences with their imaginative restoration: the opulent Royal Hall in Harrogate and London’s Royal Festival Hall, National Theatre Studio and Young Vic.

Two new hospitals – the Lymington New Forest Hospital and the Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital in Brighton – show how thoughtful design can lift the spirits of patients, their families and staff.

And, also with the needs of its users front of mind, the striking architecture of the Manchester Civil Justice Centre reflects some of the core values of the service - transparency and accessibility.

Bold design has also provided a solution to cutting carbon emissions at the St Marylebone CE School Performing Arts Centre: daylight and fresh air are brought into a gym nine metres below street level by a open courtyard.

Commenting on the shortlist, the Prime Minister, Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP, said: "Good design in building matters. It helps to foster civic pride, it fires the imagination, and it's something we're very good at in this country. The public buildings and projects on this year's shortlist are excellent examples of this.

"I am especially pleased to see the emphasis on sustainable design, regeneration and bringing life into communities shown by this year's selection."