The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has finally picked an architect for its 66 Portland Place refurbishment. 

The organization announced today that it has selected Benedetti Architects in the national competition to lead the overhaul of its aged neoclassical headquarters first designed by architect George Grey Wornum in the early 1930s.

Benedetti was selected over shortlisted submissions from Hugh Broughton Architects, Hall McKnight, David Kohn Architects, Roz Barr Architects, Feix&Merlin (with Haptic Architects & Heritage Architecture), Donald Insall Associates, Freehaus, and IDK. The London-based firm will now work with the RIBA on a feasibility study that will include the appointment of several additional smaller practices.

Benedetti’s founder, Renato Benedetti, said being chosen was a “tremendous honor” and that he agreed it needed “comprehensive improvements to be fit for purpose to secure its sustainable future culturally and environmentally, as an exemplar for architects, and for the communication of architecture’s significance to the broadest possible audience.”

“As a wide-eyed Canadian student who first visited in 1983, the RIBA felt like the architectural epicentre of the world to me,” the University of Waterloo graduate added. “It would be great to rekindle that sense of excitement and relevance for future generations of architects and lovers of architecture.”

Construction is expected to start by 2024, and in the end, aims to enable the organization to better pursue its House of Architecture initiative in addition to making the existing space more accessible, public-oriented, member-friendly, and inclusive. RIBA has been through quite a turbulent pandemic era and will look to rebound using the project as a focal point in a way President Simon Alford described as “urgent and essential.”