The competition client is Better Bankside (on behalf of the Low Line Steering Group). The competition is being managed and administered by RIBA Competitions to whom all queries relating to the competition should be addressed.
The competition will follow the Design Contest format and will be held over two phases:
Phase 1:
Submission of concept designs which will be assessed anonymously.
Phase 2:
A shortlist of up to five designs will be selected and the authors invited to develop further their design concepts. Anonymity will be retained during the evaluation of the developed design concepts. The Client reserves the right to raise issues upon which clarification is required with the shortlisted organisations.
The competition is open internationally to architects, landscape architects, designers, ecologists and other design related disciplines.
Architects should be registered with the Architects Registration Board (ARB) in the UK, or an equivalent, recognised overseas regulatory authority. Landscape Architects should be registered with the Landscape Institute or an equivalent, recognised overseas regulatory authority.
The following parties are excluded from participating in the competition, and may not complete or assist a competitor in any way:
The declaration form acknowledges authorship of the designs and by signing it competitors agree to abide by the competition conditions and accept the decision of the evaluation Panel as final. The declaration form should be completed and uploaded to the digital entry system along with the design submission.
Please note that all team members should be listed on the declaration form. At the end of the competition the team names may be used in promotional activity so please ensure this is reflected accurately.
The Evaluation Panel (which may be subject to change) is expected to comprise:
| Name | Role |
|---|---|
| Lisbet Rausing | Founder, Lund Trust |
| Donald Hyslop | Director of Regeneration and Community Partnerships, Tate Modern / Chair, Better Bankside & Low Line Steering Group |
| Graham Morrison | Allies and Morrison (RIBA Advisor) |
| Johanna Gibbons | Director, J+L Gibbons |
| Cllr Rebecca Lury | Deputy Leader, Southwark Council |
| Julia Thrift | Projects and Operations Director, Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) |
| Adam White | President, Landscape Institute |
| Tim Rettler | Regeneration Team, Greater London Authority |
| Rob McAuliffe | Consents Manager, The Arch Company |
* Hannah Rylatt, RIBA Competitions will attend the assessments to document the competition process and provide procedural support.
In the event of an Evaluation Panel member being unable to continue to act through illness or any other cause, Better Bankside, in consultation with the RIBA, reserves the right to appoint an alternative panel member.
The anticipated programme, which may be subject to change, is as follows:
| Activity | Date |
|---|---|
| Official Competition launch & Brief available | 08 July 2019 |
| Deadline for Questions | 26 July 2019 |
| Response to Questions issued | 02 Aug 2019 |
| Deadline for submission of Phase 1 Design Proposals | 14:00, 02 Sept 2019 |
| Assessment of Phase 1 Design Proposals | 09 Sept 2019 |
| Short list notified and feedback given | 19 Sept 2019 |
| Additional briefing information supplied to the shortlist | 23 Sept 2019 |
| Submission Deadline for Phase 2 | 01 Nov 2019 |
| Exhibition of shortlisted designs / public consultation | 04–15 Nov 2019 |
| Phase 2 Assessment and Selection of Winner | 20 Nov 2019 |
| Issue of intention to award contract and start of 10-day standstill period | 25 Nov 2019 |
| Announcement of Result | 09 Dec 2019 |
The above timetable is indicative only, and the client reserves the right to amend the Timetable or extend any period at its discretion. Registered competitors will be notified by RIBA Competitions of any changes made to the timetable.
Questions relating to the competition brief and conditions must be submitted to RIBA Competitions at riba.competitions@riba.org before 5pm on Fri 26 July 2019 referencing The Low Line in the Subject header line. It is the intention that a Q&A memorandum in response to all questions raised will be emailed to all registered competitors by Fri 02 Aug 2019, (Where doing so is in the interest of maintaining transparency and fairness in the procedure and would not constitute a breach of confidentiality). Oral questions will not be accepted.
There will be no organised site visits during the competition, however competitors are free to visit the site if they wish.
All submissions will be evaluated anonymously, via use of the Unique Registration Number (URN) issued at the time of registration. The URN should be prominently displayed on the design submission sheets, 500 word design statement and declaration form. Please refer to the section “How to Register” to obtain a URN.
Any submission that has identifying marks (including logos, text, insignia, or images that could be used to identify the submission's author) will be disqualified.
The submission must be accompanied by the Declaration of Authorship form which should be duly completed with the URN entered in the box provided. Each Competitor must be able to satisfy the Competition organisers that the submitted design is an original piece of work [prepared for the express purposes of the Competition], and that he/she is the bona fide author of the design proposals he/she has submitted.
Submission of the Declaration of Authorship form acknowledges authorship of the design ideas, and by signing it, Competitors accept all conditions pertaining to the competition and agree to abide by the decision of the evaluation Panel. The practice name, company details or individuals stated on the Declaration of Authorship form will be used in all press releases so please ensure the accuracy of the information provided.
It is intended that an on-line gallery resource of publicity images will be uploaded to the competition web site on conclusion of the competition. Any competitor who does not wish to be identified as the author of a scheme on the web gallery should indicate accordingly on the submitted Declaration of Authorship form.
Submissions will be excluded from the Competition:
There are four elements to the design submission, each of which should bear the Unique Registration Number (URN) only. Competitors should refer to the anonymity requirements and submit the following material digitally:
1. A3 sheets
A maximum of two A3 sheets in landscape format (together in a low-res PDF):
The contents of the two sheets are left to competitors for free expression however as a minimum should include a site plan at a recognised scale.
The proposals should be presented in a clear and succinct manner to enable Evaluation Panel members to readily understand the essence and design drivers behind the scheme.
Please note that the submissions may be viewed on a tablet, laptop or large screen and will also be printed out at A3 for the purposes of assessment, so this should be taken into consideration when putting together the submission.
The URN should be prominently displayed on the front face of each design sheet in the top right-hand corner.
The File name should consist of the URN assigned to the candidate by RIBA Competitions, together with document contained eg:
URN#_Boards.pdf
URN#_PublicityImage.pdf
Architectural models will not be accepted as part of the phase 1 submission. Images of models used to develop the design proposal may be included on the design sheets.
2. A written design statement
(maximum of 500 words) in support of the submission, preferably in word format
3. Declaration form
Copy of the Declaration of Authorship form, which should be completed and bear the URN in the dedicated section on the form
4. A Visual Image.
In addition to a pdf of the design sheets, one visual image of the design concept should be provided for publicity purposes. The image should be representative of the ideas proposed and be readily identifiable as such. The image should be submitted in JPEG format in a low resolution (72dpi). This image will be used for the online gallery of entries at the end of the competition.
Each phase 1 design submission should be uploaded to the RIBA Competition digital entry system before 14:00 on Mon 02 Sep 2019. Further details will be issued to registered competitors.
Late entries will not be accepted and the digital system will not permit uploads after the 2pm deadline. Please note that the total upload should not exceed 20mb.
The design proposals will be assessed against the following criteria:
| Criteria | Weighting |
|---|---|
| Overall quality of the design concept, including response to the site, its ability to improve on the green character of the area and enhance the public realm | 50% |
| Response to the brief, and project aspirations for increased biodiversity, social and economic benefits of reconnecting neighbourhoods | 35% |
| Clear communication of ideas to explain the ethos behind the proposals. | 15% |
| Score | Definition | Benchmark |
|---|---|---|
| 9–10 | Excellent response | In the opinion of the evaluators, the Candidate's response provides information which addresses all requirements and provides good or excellent quality relevant supporting evidence, which to some material degree provides evidence of an exemplary or class leading response. |
| 7–8 | Very good response | In the opinion of the evaluators, the Candidate's response provides information which addresses all requirements and provides very good or excellent quality relevant supporting evidence. |
| 5–6 | Good Response | In the opinion of the evaluators, the Candidate's response provides information which addresses all requirements and provides good quality relevant supporting evidence which to some material degree provides evidence of a good response. |
| 3–4 | Adequate response | In the opinion of the evaluators, the Candidate's response provides information which addresses all requirements; but the supporting evidence is less than good in some material degree or is of limited relevance to the response. |
| 0–2 | Poor response | In the opinion of the evaluators, the Bidder's response provides information which addresses all requirements. But the Candidate's s response fails to provide relevant supporting evidence; or the evidence is not relevant to the response required. |
Shortlisted teams will be provided with feedback from phase 1 and asked to further develop their concept designs. Phase 2 designs will be subject to public consultation (details to be confirmed) and displayed anonymously.
Competitors will be required to demonstrate, as far as possible, the viability of their design and may be asked to respond to any points of clarification required by the Evaluation Panel.
Fee's will be required from teams at phase 2 in the form of a breakdown of the graded resource for each of the proposed disciplines.
Better Bankside reserves the right not to proceed beyond the competition stage in the event that the requirements and aspirations set for this competition are not met, but all honorarium payments as indicated will be awarded.
Any future appointments with the winning consultant are subject to Better Bankside being able to reach a commercial agreement with them.
The weighted overall score arising from the evaluation will be used to order the returns in order of highest to lowest for the purpose of shortlisting and selection of Phase 2 Candidates. It is proposed that the five highest scoring Candidates (subject to them meeting the clients minimum criteria) will be invited to proceed to the next phase.
Further details of the Award Criteria will be issued in the Phase 2 invitations to short-listed teams. However, they are expected to include:
| Award Criteria | Weighting | |
|---|---|---|
| Quality | ||
| 1 | Response to feedback and refinement of proposal ideas following Phase 1 assessments. | 30% |
| 2 | Viability of the proposals with clear balance of creativity versus pragmatism, to ensure that proposed concepts are commercially deliverable. | 25% |
| 3 | Demonstration of understanding the project requirements, in particular the schemes ability to, reconnect neighbourhoods from Bankside in the west, through London Bridge to Bermondsey in the east, strengthen the green character and biodiversity of the area with high-quality placemaking. | 25% |
| Cost | ||
| 4 | Submission of a competitive fee proposal (broken down per RIBA work stage) to include the demonstration of a sufficient level of resourcing to deliver the quality and scope of design services required | 20% |
Authors of up to five short-listed schemes will be required to develop their design concepts in more detail in response to generic and scheme specific feedback, seeking advice from consultants from other design disciplines where appropriate.
It is anticipated that this will take the form of the submission of:
The competition results will be published after competitors have been notified. Please note that any requests for feedback should be submitted to RIBA Competitions within one calendar month of a shortlist, or a result being announced.
Competitors must not release their designs for publication to any 3rd parties until after the result has been officially announced and permission has been granted from the RIBA. Competitors should note that by entering the competition they are expected to honour the request for confidentiality, to prevent information of the winning team being leaked to the press before any official announcement is made.
The RIBA reserve the right to publicise the competition, any design submission, and the result in any promotional activity including social media channels. Illustrations of any design - either separately, or together with other designs, with or without explanatory text - may be used without cost. Once anonymity has been lifted at the end of the competition, authors will be credited and recognised in all associated media and publicity. This information will be taken from the declaration form so please ensure the details are reflected accurately.
Better Bankside reserve the right to undertake public consultation between the date of the final submissions being received and the winning announcement. The developed design concepts by the shortlisted teams will be subject to anonymous public display and an online community engagement exercise, with comments made available to the selection panel.
It is intended that five teams will be selected to proceed to the second stage.
The five shortlisted teams will each receive honoraria of £4,000 + VAT. The winner's honorarium represents an advance on their professional fee post competition. Better Bankside undertakes to pay the honoraria within 6 weeks of the conclusion of the competition. Invoices for payment should be submitted to RIBA Competitions.
The ownership of Copyright will be in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, that is Copyright rests with the author of the submitted design.
The role of RIBA Competitions is limited to the administration and management of the competition process. The RIBA will have no further role once the winner has been selected and competitors notified.
Dependent on funding the winner is anticipated to be appointed for one or multiple sites along the Low Line. However, the panel reserves the right to take forward more than one winning design
The competition is being managed and administered by RIBA Competitions on behalf of Better Bankside.
All enquiries relating to the competition should be directed to:
RIBA Competitions
++44 (0) 113 203 1490
riba.competitions@riba.org
Better Bankside, the RIBA Adviser, or any other members of the judging panel should not be contacted for information as this may lead to disqualification from the competition.
