Now in its 18th year, The Chester Civic Trust has given its verdict on the best examples of new development, renovation of existing buildings and community projects in its annual Good, Bad and Ugly awards for the City.
The awards made at a ceremony at the headquarters of Chester Civic Trust at Bishop Lloyd’s Palace Watergate Street, Chester on 17th June, highlight Chester’s buildings, places, spaces and projects in an alternative ‘New Financial Year Honours list’.
Peter Hadfield, chairman of the judging panel, said: “These annual awards are based on nominations from our members. They aim to recognise the best changes to the Chester property scene in the past year. We hope they will encourage higher standards of design and maintenance in our public realm. As always, I would like to thank my fellow Judges for their time and commitment visiting and providing insightful comments on the nominations.”
He added; “Members of the Chester Civic Trust excelled this year with a total of 55 nominations. 32 Bad/Ugly nominations were submitted together with 23 Good nominations.
All categories included an interesting mix of nominations. Once again it was good to see some from outside the city and we would like to receive more in the future.
The judges said; “The Bad and The Ugly Awards are included in the hope that it will prompt action. Sadly, given the current stagnant economy and inadequate funding for local services, we are not anticipating that 2024 will bring many improvements.
As usual we had many nominations for our ‘Hardy Perennials’ (those buildings which get mentioned year after year) including Dee House, the state of the City Walls, the former Quicks Garage and St Olaves Church. We remain concerned about all these areas but this year we decided to concentrate on new nominations and those which we have not mentioned for some time.”
There were several projects which the Judges declined to consider this year as they are incomplete. These will automatically be included with other nominations next year.”
The Chair’s Special Award
- Picturehouse
The Good Awards
- The Flaggs and Hamilton House, Church Street, Tarvin
- ōH Chester Design Foundation, Bridge Street
- 6-12 Saint Werburgh Street, Renovation of Facades
- New Chester Market
- Chester Zoo Nature Recovery Corridor
Good – Commendations
- The White Horse, Churton
- Bren Bikes, Live! New Scene, Newton
- New Residential Property, Farndon
- The Lock Vaults, Hoole Lane
- Chester Residents Association Group
The Bad and The Ugly Awards
- Delamere Street
- The Roman Strong Room
- The Riverside Promenade
- Interpretive Devices
- Collapsed Wall, Liverpool Road
- Closure of a Section of The Rows
- Poor Street Lighting
A full copy of the judges’ comments is available.