Double award win for our new home

The Anna Freud Centre is the new building designed by Penoyre & Prasad for the Anna Freud Centre near King’s Cross in London. The Anna Freud Centre brings together the best in research, clinical expertise and training under one roof.

The judges said: “This building takes very good advantage of the elevations and has been designed for a very challenging site. It demonstrates very good use of a tight site and has a nice domestic feel. It is a design that uses the constraints and complexities of the site to produce a very engaging building.”

Describing the design as "a clever solution", the judging panel said: “Working within a challenging urban site, and a complex brief, the architects delivered a homely, light-filled environment that supports children dealing with mental health problems and who are excluded from the school system.”

The new building is a purpose-built space where leading neuroscientists and practitioners in mental health, social care and education work together with children and young people to transform mental health for them and their families. At the heart of the new centre is the ground-breaking Pears Family School, a school for children who have been excluded from mainstream education.

Professor Peter Fonagy, CEO of the Anna Freud Centre, said: “Where we work influences what we do. This is a building designed to help us transform children and young people’s mental health. It brings together research, policy and practice under one roof and in doing so will help us reduce the seventeen years it takes to transfer research into practice. Its environmental footprint reflects our deep concern for the future of our children and young people.

“The space we have is one for bringing people together, and the environment encourages collaboration, creativity and inclusivity. It’s a beautiful building and one that makes working together easy and inspiring.”

The Anna Freud Centre is also a Regional Finalist in the Civic Trust Awards 2020.