London Cancer Hub’s Harris Academy Sutton wins prestigious RIBA Awards 2022

RIBA London has announced that the Harris Academy Sutton has won its prestigious RIBA Regional London Award 2022 and RIBA London Sustainability Award 2022. The Harris Academy Sutton is part of the London Cancer Hub (LCH) campus, based in Belmont, Sutton next to the Royal Marsden Hospital and the Institute for Cancer Research, London.

RIBA Awards celebrate great architecture, and this year’s awards focused on the environmental and social influence of architectural designs across London. 

Students benefit from both a specialist education and a high class learning environment. The secondary school curriculum focuses on science, technology, engineering and maths, and the building is the UK’s first Passivhaus secondary school and the largest Passivhaus school in the UK.

Harris Academy Sutton plays an important role to inspire and educate a new generation of health and science professionals, as the super-high energy efficiency building is a key part of the London Cancer Hub. The school was delivered by the London Borough of Sutton as part of the Government’s  Free School programme, and opened in September 2018 to help meet the demand for additional secondary school places in the area as part of Sutton’s local area pupil place planning strategy. It plays a focal part of the vision to expand the London Cancer Hub’s talent pool further to accelerate cancer research, treatment and care in Sutton, the UK and internationally. 

In the winner’s listing, RIBA states, “Harris Academy Sutton is a prototype for 21st Century schools, being the UK’s first Passivhaus certified secondary school… powered only by a single domestic-scale boiler, the school sets an impressive sustainability benchmark.”

Carolyn Dwyer, Strategic Director of Development, Growth and Regeneration, London Borough of Sutton, said: “We are delighted that Harris Academy Sutton has achieved this award of excellence from the Royal Institute of British Architects.

“The London Borough of Sutton commissioned the design and construction of the school as one of the first projects on the London Cancer Hub campus. We put sustainability at the heart of our developments, so it is brilliant that this incredible school gets the recognition it deserves.

“We are strengthening ties between the Harris Academy Sutton and the London Cancer Hub to unlock learning and employment potential. The campus is starting a new era of development, with the opening of the Innovation Gateway, a new hospital building and more, creating around 7,000 jobs in life science in the borough.”