The Shrewsbury Buddhist Centre, UK, opened last September in a former church hall. Now the redevelopment has received a Gold Award in the town’s annual Mayor’s Awards.

Saravantu is the centre Chair. She writes “Our award is in the Built Heritage category - a lovely tribute to the work of many sangha members and particularly to architect Abhayanara - who also worked on the redevelopment of Adhisthana. His simple, elegant design makes great use of space and natural light, and has created a beautiful, functional and energy efficient building.

We love the oak floor in our shrine room, the rich reds and oranges of the cedarwood doors and windowsills, and the vista created through the building and out into the garden by three sets of wide double doors; and last but not least, the 2-way hinges on the disabled-accessible toilet door! If you need a designer to help you plan a new Buddhist Centre or re-think an existing one, we can highly recommend him."

Read about the centre opening.
Watch a video about Shrewsbury's building project.