The Carbuncle Cup is an architecture prize, awarded annually—originally by the magazine Building Design from 2006 to 2018 and, since 2024, by The Fence—to "the very worst new building in Britain" completed in the preceding year.^[1] It was conceived as a humorous counterpart to the prestigious Stirling Prize,^[2] presented by the Royal Institute of British Architects.^[3]

The award was inspired by the Carbuncle Awards, which the Scottish architecture magazine Prospect (now Urban Realm) had been presenting to buildings and areas in Scotland since 2000.^[4]

Its name derives from a 1984 comment by Charles, Prince of Wales (now Charles III), an opponent of certain modernist styles and a defender of established architectural character, who described Ahrends, Burton and Koralek's proposed extension to London's National Gallery as a "monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much-loved and elegant friend".^[5][6]

The Carbuncle Cup was launched in 2006, with the first winner being the Drake Circus Shopping Centre in Plymouth, designed by Chapman Taylor.^[7] Each year the magazine announced a shortlist based on public nominations, usually in the same week as the Stirling Prize shortlist. The winner was initially chosen by free online voting, but from 2009 onwards a small panel of critics selected the recipient. The original run concluded in 2018.

In 2024 the Soho-based magazine The Fence revived the award, with the first year recognising buildings completed since the final award of the original run in 2018.^[8] The jury for the 2024 awards comprised:

• Tim Abrahams (chair) – contributing editor, Architectural Record
• Vicky Richardson – FRIBA, architectural curator
• Cajsa Carlson – deputy editor, Dezeen
• James McLachlan – former editor, Icon
• Lucy Watson – commissioning editor, Financial Times
• Penny Lewis – lecturer, University of Dundee; co-founder of the Carbuncle Awards
• Charlie Baker – editor, The Fence^[8]

The jury for the 2026 awards comprised:^[9]

• Catherine Slessor (chair) – critic
• Phineas Harper – critic and sculptor
• Lucy Watson – commissioning editor, Financial Times
• Lev Bratiskenko
• William Pelham – co-founder, The Fence
• Bertie Brandes – screenwriter of The Moment

Winners and nominees of the first run (2006–2018)

Year	Architect	Winning work		Nominees and works
2006	Chapman Taylor		Drake Circus Shopping Centre, Plymouth[10]	Page & Park for BBC Radio Merseyside, Liverpool FaulknerBrowns Architects for Ibis Hotel, Harbourside, Bristol CZWG for Lough Road Housing, Holloway, London Foster + Partners for Moor House, City of London S&P Architects for Nexus One, Swiss Cottage, London Rem Koolhaas for Serpentine Pavilion, Hyde Park, London Broadway Malyan for St George Wharf, Lambeth, London John McAslan/Dandara for St George's Island, Castlefield, Manchester Llewlyn Davies for University College Hospital, Bloomsbury, London
2007	Stephen George & Partners		Opal Court, Leicester[11]	Peter Redhead Architects for Holiday Inn, Westhill, Aberdeenshire Allford Hall Monaghan Morris for KX200, Pentonville Road, London Foster & Partners for More London, South Bank, London BBLB Architects with John Rocha for Orion Building, Birmingham Edward Potter Associates for Skydec apartments, Wandsworth, London East Riding of Yorkshire Council and Atkins for Treasure House, Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire
2008	EPR Architects		Radisson SAS Waterfront hotel, Saint Helier, Jersey[2][12]	BCA Architects for Aqua housing, Poole, Dorset Trinity Architecture for B-Central apartments, Bournemouth Allies and Morrison for Blue Fin building, Bankside, London Aedas for Bridgewater Place, Leeds Skidmore, Owings and Merrill for Broadgate Tower, Bishopsgate, London Bourne Parking for Walton Street car park, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire
2009	Hamilton Architects		Liverpool Ferry Terminal, Liverpool[13][14]	Make Architects for Amenities Building and International House, University of Nottingham Jubilee Campus Allan Murray Architects for Hotel Missoni, Edinburgh Pelli Clarke Pelli for One Park West, Liverpool One Calderpeel Carden Croft for Poundbury Fire Station, Poundbury, Dorset Dyer Associates for Queen Margaret University, Musselburgh, East Lothian Austin Smith Lord for Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury Halliday Fraser Munro for Union Plaza, Aberdeen Westfield Group for Westfield Shopping Centre, Shepherd's Bush, London Coogan & Co. for Woodlands Manor, Belfast[15]
2010	BFLS		Strata SE1, Elephant & Castle, London[16]	T. P. Bennett for Bézier Apartments, Old Street, London East Ayrshire Council for Burns Monument Centre, Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire Reid Jubb Brown for Haymarket Hub, Newcastle WDR & RT Taggart for St Anne's Square, Belfast Make Architects for The Cube, Birmingham[17]
2011	Fairhurst, Chapman Taylor and Wilkinson Eyre		MediaCityUK, Salford Quays[18]	Molyneux Architects for Ebenezer Chapel and Housing Development, Brighton 3XN/AEW Architects for Museum of Liverpool, Liverpool Grimshaw Architects and Atkins for Newport Station, Newport, Wales Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners for One Hyde Park, Knightsbridge, London Bond Bryan for Phoenix High School, Shepherd's Bush, London[19]
2012	Grimshaw Architects		Cutty Sark Renovation, Greenwich, London[20]	Anish Kapoor and Cecil Balmond for ArcelorMittal Orbit, Olympic Park, London Andrew Smith Architects for Firepool Lock Housing, Taunton, Somerset Broadway Malyan for Mann Island Buildings, Liverpool IDP Partnership for Shard End Library, Birmingham Todd Architects and Civic Arts for Titanic Belfast Museum, Belfast[21]
2013	Stephen George & Partners		465 Caledonian Road, University College London[22]	Stock Woolstencroft for Avant Garde, 34–42 Bethnal Green Road, Bethnal Green, London K2 Architects for Porth Eirias Watersports Centre, Colwyn Bay, Wales Hamiltons for Premier Inn (formerly General Lying-In Hospital), Lambeth, London Seven Architecture and Smeeden Foreman for Redcar Beacon ('The Vertical Pier'), Redcar, North Yorkshire[23]
2014	Sheppard Robson		Woolwich Central, Woolwich, London[24]	Stride Treglown for Chancellor's Building, University of Bath CZWG for QN7 flats, Holloway, London 3DReid for Trinity Square, Gateshead BDP for Unite Stratford City, Stratford, London Broadway Malyan for Vauxhall Tower, Vauxhall, London[25]
2015	Rafael Viñoly		20 Fenchurch Street ('The Walkie-Talkie'), City of London[26]	Fluid Design for City Gateway, Swaythling, Southampton Keith Williams Architects for Parliament House, Lambeth, London Robert Kilgour Architects for Waltham Forest YMCA building, Waltham Forest, London John Simpson Architects for Whittle Building, Peterhouse, University of Cambridge careyjones chapmantolcher (CJCT) for Woodward Hall, Imperial College London, North Acton, London[27]
2016	Hamiltons Architects		Lincoln Plaza, Isle of Dogs, London[28][29][30]	Make Architects for 5 Broadgate, Broadgate, City of London RHWL for One Smithfield, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire Intelligent Design Centre for Poole Methodist Church extension, Poole, Dorset Rolfe Judd for Saffron Square, Croydon, London Twelve Architects for The Diamond, University of Sheffield[31]
2017	PLP Architecture		Nova Victoria, City of Westminster, London[32][33][34]	Vivid Architects for 8 Somers Road, Malvern, Worcestershire SimpsonHaugh and Partners for Circus West, Battersea Power Station, London Cooley Architects for Greetham Street Student Halls, Portsmouth ESA Architecture for Park Plaza Westminster Bridge, Lambeth, London AHR for Preston railway station Butler Street entrance, Preston, Lancashire[35]
2018	BDP		Redrock Stockport, Stockport, Greater Manchester[36]	Pace Jefford Moore Architects for 20 Ambleside Avenue, Streatham, London Boyes Rees Architects for Beckley Point, Plymouth Rolfe Judd for Haydn Tower, Vauxhall, London PRP Architects for Lewisham Gateway, Lewisham, London Signature Living for Shankly Hotel, Liverpool[37]

Winners and nominees of the second run (2024–present)

Year	Architect	Winning work		Nominees and works
2024	Broadway Malyan[38]		Lime Street redevelopment, Liverpool, 2018[8]	Jestico + Whiles for W Hotel, Edinburgh, 2023 Twenty First Architects for Virgin Hotel, Glasgow, 2023 Carillion for Royal Liverpool University Hospital, Liverpool, 2022 Comer Homes Group for Mast Quay II, Woolwich Dockyard, London, 2022 MATT Architecture for Ilona Rose House, London, 2021

• List of architecture awards