At the awards ceremony of the Best Building in Latvia 2024 competition, held on 10 September in Riga in the conference hall at 17 Reinvaldu Street, the outstanding buildings completed last year were named and honoured across eight categories. This year marked the 27th cycle of the competition, which concluded with the presentation of the Grand Prize – awarded to a timber building: the TZMO Latvija office with shop and warehouse at 17 Reinvaldu Street, Riga.
Winners of the Best Building in Latvia 2024 competition:
Grand Prize
Office with shop and warehouse, 17 Reinvaldu Street, Riga
New residential building
1st place Nameja rezidence, 5 Raņķa dambis, Riga
2nd place Pillar Dārzciema liepas, 17 Franča Trasuna Street, Riga
2nd place Pillar Dreiliņu priedes, 1 Ēvalda Valtera Street, Riga
3rd place Villa 11, 11 Vīlandes Street, Riga
3rd place Čiekuru mājas, 2 Druvienas Street, Riga
Commendation Moho Garden, 6 Mežezera Street, Riga
Landscape structure
1st place Zilaiskalns viewing tower and health nature trail, Zilaiskalns, Kocēni parish, Valmiera municipality
1st place University of Latvia Botanical Garden expositions Biological and Morphological Plant Groups and Medicinal Plants, 2 Kandavas Street, Riga
2nd place Viewing tower in Pārventa Park, 1 Krasta Street, Kuldīga
Commendation Stage 1 of the revitalisation of the Skanste area, Riga
Reconstruction
1st place ARS Hospital, 3 Jāņa Asara Street, Riga
2nd place Valmiera Theatre, 4 Lāčplēša Street, Valmiera
2nd place Vidzeme Rehabilitation Centre, 195 Jumaras Street, Valmiera
3rd place Culture and Creative Industries Support Centre TabFab, 58A Miera Street, Riga
3rd place Improvement of the energy efficiency of the Čiekuriņš pre-school building and landscaping of its grounds, 7 Veselības Street, Olaine
Commendation Bauska multifunctional social services centre, 9 Rūpniecības Street, Bauska
Restoration
2nd place Museum of Literature and Music, 6 Mārstaļu Street, Riga
Engineering structure
1st place Sewage pumping station, 101 Daugavgrīvas Street, Riga
2nd place Water terminal, pipeline and ship loading facility, 117 Oskara Kalpaka Street, Liepāja
2nd place Salaspils–Babīte section of the A5 Riga bypass, A5 2.5 km from the Riga boundary to the Jūrmala highway, km 38.20–40.82
2nd place Breakwaters of the Port of Klaipėda and reinforcement of the Curonian Spit
3rd place Krasta kvartāls, 188, 190 and 192 Latgales Street, 4 Krīdenera dambis, 15 and 17 Grēdu Street, Riga
3rd place Jāņupīte bridge and Pils Street in Krāslava
3rd place Foundations of the panoramic wheel and service pavilion, Raņķa dambis, Riga
Commendation Redevelopment of the derelict area of Pilssalas Street, reconstruction of Pilssalas Street and reinforcement of the Lielupe riverbank in Jelgava
Commendation Latvia–Russia border fence, parts 5, 8 and 10
New public building
1st place Team sports hall, 99C Krišjāņa Barona Street, Riga
2nd place Knauf Latvija office building, 108 Institūta Street, Saurieši, Stopiņi parish
2nd place Multifunctional building of the Seaside Open-Air Museum, 2 Riņķa Street, Ventspils
3rd place Jelgava water tourism and sports base, 5 Pilssalas Street, Jelgava
3rd place Vecumnieki secondary school, 24 Rīgas Street, Vecumnieki, Bauska municipality
Commendation Office centre Novira Plaza, 2 and 2A Marijas Street, Riga
Commendation RIMI hypermarket Mežaparks, 6 Ķīšezera Street, Riga
New public building. Production building
1st place AS Latvijas Finieris Kuldīga factory production facility, 12 Ganību Street, Kuldīga
2nd place Stage set workshop and rehearsal room complex, 2 Meirānu Street, Riga
3rd place Biodegradable waste processing site Brakšķi, Līvbērze parish, Jelgava municipality
Commendation Military equipment production facility, 4 Meistaru Street, Valmiera
Timber building
1st place Salaspils kindergarten No. 7, 2A Rubeņu Street, Salaspils
2nd place AS Latvijas valsts meži Western Vidzeme regional customer centre, 1 Vanagu Street, Valmiermuiža, Valmiera parish, Valmiera municipality
3rd place Panorama private housing village, Furutoppen 27, 1555 Son, Norway
Concrete Structure of the Year
AS Latvijas Finieris Kuldīga factory production facility, 12 Ganību Street, Kuldīga.
The Concrete Structure of the Year award was presented for the second time, honouring outstanding use of concrete in construction and promoting aesthetic, structurally bold and sustainable solutions. The award is granted by the Latvian Concrete Association.
The BIM Object of the Year award for the use of digital tools in construction went to the AS Latvijas Finieris Kuldīga factory production facility.
In this competition cycle, 67 projects from all regions of Latvia were submitted for assessment by a jury of almost fifty industry professionals across eight categories. The experts visited every building in person, and more than half of them were assessed in the competition final through presentations by architects, builders and clients. The jury has the authority to single out one building outside the categories and, by jury vote, award it the Grand Prize Best Building in Latvia. A building nominated for this award does not receive a prize in its own category. This award is not granted every year – the jury may also choose not to award it.
All the projects entered in the Best Building in Latvia 2024 competition can be viewed in the competition yearbook, published this year for the tenth year running.
For the second time, the competition also presented the Building of Public Importance award. This year it was received from the competition's cooperation partner and title sponsor Ceresit by Vecumnieki secondary school, which gained the highest number of votes in the online poll.
The special commendation of the competition jury and the Construction Client of the Year award went to Linda Ozolante of the Children's Clinical University Hospital. The special Building of Public Importance award went to the CBRNE and man-made disaster rescue training ground at 10 Krustpils Street, 20 Jāņavārtu Street, Riga.
The annual Structural Engineer of the Year 2024 award of the Latvian Association of Structural Designers went to Aivars Ševčuks of SIA A projekts. Aivars Ševčuks developed the structural solutions for the reconstruction of the Children's and Youth Centre at 10 1905. gada Street, Kuldīga. In his work as a structural engineer he demonstrated good practice in calculations for buildings of this kind – neither computer printouts running to hundreds and thousands of pages, nor assumptions based on experience alone without calculations, but well-structured, neatly handwritten full-scope building calculations carried out using classical structural mechanics methods. The Structural Engineer of the Year award is granted by the Latvian Association of Structural Designers.
As is traditional, the Building Materials Producers Association also presents its own Lietaskoks award. This year the award for the use of local building materials on a construction site went to the construction company Velve for the Novira Plaza building.
Competition supporters Alejas projekti and Landscape Construction present the Landscape Person award. It went to Evisa Dzerkale, Alise Damberga and Krišs Maļinovskis of SIA Bonava Latvija for their outstanding work at Krasta kvartāls in Riga.
The audience favourite award from competition supporter FIBO, meanwhile, went to the Jelgava water tourism and sports base, 5 Pilssalas Street, Jelgava.
The award from competition title sponsor Ceresit went to Valmiera Theatre, the award from supporter Hilti went to the Team sports hall, and the RUUKKI award went to the Water terminal in Liepāja.
This year, competition entrants whose buildings did not win awards receive, along with the competition yearbook, a Joy of the Year diploma highlighting work done to a high standard.
The Best Building in Latvia 2024 competition is now in its 27th year! It is organised by the Latvian Builders Association and the Latvian Association of Civil Engineers in cooperation with Ceresit and seventeen industry organisations, the State Construction Control Bureau, VAS Valsts nekustamie īpašumi, the Latvian Association of Local and Regional Governments, Riga Technical University, the Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies, Riga Building College and RISEBA FAD. The aim of the competition is to raise the quality of the construction process by identifying and promoting the best buildings of Latvian construction companies and examples of good practice in the construction process in Latvia and abroad.
The competition's main cooperation partner is Ceresit, and its supporters are FIBO, KRASO, EJOT, SOUDAL, PERI, GEBERIT, RUUKI, HILTI, Aveluk grupa, Alejas projekti, Landscape Construction, Merko mājas, Latvijas Betona savienība.
Media partners: the magazine Būvinženieris, LETA, nozare.lv, dienasbizness.lv, building.lv, archidea.lv, abc.lv, constructionlatvija.lv
The competition organisers thank their cooperation partners and supporters, as well as the entrants, for the excellent buildings, and look forward to meeting them in future competition cycles!