Awards

Why enter?
BCO Awards are widely respected within the commercial property sector. They display the strength of British office design and illustrate a combination of excellence from the clarity of purpose in the brief; ingenuity of product; clever design solutions where appropriate; and delivery on time and in budget. Winning a BCO Award provides members of the project team with a multitude of benefits, including:

Regional & National Profile
The BCO Regional Awards events feature all entrants. Winners are announced on stage and go forward to be shown in their winning category at the National Awards Dinner. In total your project can be seen in front of at least 3,500 individuals within the commercial property industry.

Award Winners Supplement
As media partner of the BCO Awards, Estates Gazette publishes our annual Awards Supplement which is distributed to their circulation list in addition to BCO members, and attendees at the National Awards Dinner.

Press
Media coverage cannot be guaranteed but each year the BCO team send out post-event press releases listing our regional and national winners. In previous years coverage has appeared in Estates Gazette, Building Design, AJ, Construction News, The Guardian, and The Times.

The expertise and commitment shown by our National and Regional judges is superb.

Their dedication helps make the BCO Awards one of the most rigorous judging processes and, therefore, worthwhile in the property industry. Judging panels are made up of BCO members who serve up to three years on the panel. Each year one or two judging panel members change.

Entries will only be accepted for schemes developed in the United Kingdom (Great Britain and Northern Ireland). Due to logistical considerations, we regret we cannot accept schemes based in the Channel Islands or Outer Isles.

• The entry may be submitted by the owner or occupier or by any member of their respective teams; the Award will be made to the client for the project.
• All projects for the 2025 Awards must have been completed between 1st January 2020 and 1st November 2024 and the significant use of the building should be for offices.
• The project must be over 2,500sqm of net office area, except for the Projects up to 2,500sqm category where projects should be below this size and the Innovation category where there is no size limit.
• There is no limit to the number of schemes that may be submitted but projects may be submitted for a BCO Award in a particular category only once. Phased projects may have separate phases submitted in appropriate years.
• Each category entry must be accompanied by an entry fee of £400 plus VAT, with cheques made payable to the “British Council for Offices”. Entry fees are non refundable.
• The Board of the British Council for Offices, on the recommendation of the panels of judges, may grant Awards in each of the categories and regions. The BCO reserves the right not to grant an Award in any region or category if, in the opinion of the judges, no scheme submitted reaches the standard considered necessary.
• Judges reserve the right, without prior consent of the entrants, to move entries to different categories if it is more appropriate.
• Winners of the Awards will be presented with a trophy which will become the property of the client. Certificates will be available to the organisation entering a winning scheme whose name is entered in the submission form. Additional trophies, certificates and plaques will be available at cost.
• The presentation of the Awards will take place at a BCO Event. Winners may be asked to make a special presentation of the project at a subsequent BCO meeting or visit.
• BCO reserves the right to use material submitted in published form.
• Whilst you (or your licensors) continue to own the copyright in all works forming part of your entry, by submitting an entry you consent to our use of your entry in any electronic or hard copy publication, whether or not connected to the BCO Awards, and consent to us editing or adapting the entry for such publication as necessary (including, but not limited to, cropping or resizing an photograph or image). You agree to waive all moral rights in your entry including those in photographic works. We may allow third parties (e.g. journalists) to use the works comprising your entry for BCO purposes. If a third party owns the copyright in such works, you confirm that you have obtained their consent to our use and a waiver of their moral rights for these purposes.
• The BCO accepts no liability for any inaccurate information contained within the submitted entry as it is the responsibility of the applicant to provide accurate information.
• Neither the Board of the BCO, nor its Awards Committee or panels of judges, will be responsible for lost submissions.
• The decision of the Awards Committee will be final and no discussion or correspondence will be entered into.
• Full submissions must be submitted no later than 5pm on Friday 24 November 2023.

Legal Notice: Entrants shall grant to the BCO an irrevocable royalty-free sublicensable licence to copy and use any documents submitted in relation to a building for all purposes related to the BCO Awards and any other BCO activities. The BCO reserves the right to use material submitted in published form for the benefit of members.