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Millennium Commission projects once again feature prominently in the list of winners of the annual RIBA awards. Of the 70 new buildings across Britain and the EU which have received awards for their high architectural standards and their contribution to their local environment, 5 have received National Lottery funding from the Millennium Commission. Representing London in the Millennium Commission’s list of winners are two designs by Foster & Partners - The British Museum Great Court and the Millennium Bridge. The largest covered public square in Europe, the Great Court has a glittering, lattice-work glass roof, spanning a new education centre, new galleries and enhanced access through the Museum’s magnificent Grade I listed building. At its heart is the historic round Reading Room, restored to its original 19th century splendour and open to the public for the first time in its history. The Millennium Bridge is the first new Thames crossing for central London since Tower Bridge opened in 1894. Known as the Blade of Light, it links St Paul's Cathedral on the north bank of the Thames with the Tate Gallery of Modern Art and the Globe Theatre at Bankside in the south The city of Manchester has risen from the devastation of the 1996 bomb damage with a Lottery-funded rebuilding project, the Manchester Millennium Quarter. Prominent in the regeneration of this part of the city is Ian Simpson’s Urbis. Housing an exhibition representing life in the modern city, its galleries, state-of-the-art multimedia and traditional methods recreate and explore the experience of city life. Completing this regeneration project are Exchange Square, a Visitor Centre for Manchester Cathedral and a new City Park. Another Lottery-funded regeneration project to win an award is The Remaking of the Heart of the City of Sheffield. The Millennium Galleries - the cultural flagship of the regeneration project - is a stunning national showcase for the visual arts, craft and design. Linking the Millennium Galleries to the newly redesigned Peace Gardens are the elegant arches of the Winter Garden, a temperate glasshouse landscaped with winding paths and tropical plants from all over the world. Design for both the Galleries and the Winter Garden is by Pringle Richards Sharratt. The Millennium Green Wheel is part of the new sustainable transport system for the city of Peterborough, an 80km network of cycleways, footpaths and bridleways. The final link of the route is RIBA award-winning Shanks Millennium Bridge from the Whitby Bird Bridges Team. This multi-span structure has great visual impact, sweeping across the river with a dramatic curve, its unpainted steelwork entirely in keeping with its rural context. “The five Lottery-funded winners of RIBA awards are testament to the Millennium Commission’s commitment to regeneration,” says Mike O’Connor, Director of the Millennium Commission.
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Notes to Editors
1 The Millennium Commission is one of the good causes which distributes funds from the National Lottery. Its income from the Lottery ceased in August 2001 giving it a total lifetime budget of just over £2 billion.
2 The Millennium Commission has supported:
• Around 200 new buildings, environmental projects and visitor attractions on over 3,000 sites across the UK.
• Over 100 Awards Schemes which distribute Millennium Awards to individuals for community based projects. Nearly 27,000 people have already received a Millennium Award and there are still Awards available. Further information is available on 0800 06801 2000;
• A UK-wide programme of community festivals which began on New Year’s Eve 1999 and culminated on New Year’s Eve 2000 with celebrations in 32 towns and cities across the UK.;
• The Millennium Encore Scheme which is enabling at least 50,000 young people across the UK to experience performing arts productions;
• The Millennium Experience at Greenwich and the National Programme.
3 The Commission’s work is expected to be complete in 2005/6
For further information please contact the Millennium Commission Press Office on 020 7880 2007, out of hours 07775 812 820. The Millennium Commission web sites can be accessed at www.millennium.gov.uk and www.starpeople.org.uk
Millennium Commission 23rd-June-2003
Categories: News, News Archive
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