A CABE exhibition which opened at New London Architecture in London on 17 January 2008 shows what design competitions can achieve – and that they are one of the best ways to procure well-designed buildings and places.

Competitions Work features the winning projects and runners-up for the 3 UK sites for Europan 9, Europe’s leading housing and urban design competition for young professionals. The sites in Milton Keynes, Sheffield and Stoke-on-Trent are actual developments.

Competitions Work also showcases completed schemes from other design competitions supported by CABE. These include high-quality housing projects, healthcare facilities, education buildings and public space, such as Bourbon Lane Housing in Hammersmith and Fulham, Kaleidoscope Children and Young People’s Centre in Lewisham, Hoyle Early Years Centre in Bury, and the Old Market Square in Nottingham.

Competitions attract keen design teams and can unlock underused talent in big architecture practices. While in Europe competitions are routinely used for smaller-scale, everyday projects, in the UK they tend to be used for large, landmark projects. Opportunities to get the highest-quality designs for a whole range of projects – big and small – may therefore be being lost.

Competitions Work runs until 14 February 2008 at New London Architecture, The Building Centre, 26 Store Street, London WC1E 7BT.