East London flat block Lincoln Plaza has officially been branded Britain’s ugliest building after scooping the 2016 Carbuncle Cup.
The skyscraper on the Isle of Dogs beat the likes of the home of USB Bank 5 Broadgate and Croydon’s Saffron Square to claim the accolade.
Described as a “putrid, pugilistic horror show” by Building Design magazine, which organised the awards, the 31-storey tower of luxury flats is the capital’s fifth building to win the award.
Three London buildings had made the shortlist of the top five ugliest buildings in the award.
The magazine described Lincoln Plaza as “the architectural embodiment of sea sickness, waves of nausea frozen in sheaths of glass and coloured aluminium.”
Runner-up Saffron Square was branded as a “car crash of a façade” and “a cheap and less subtle version of Manchester’s Beetham Tower”.
While 5 Broadgate was hailed “the worst large building in the City for 20 years”.
Judge Ike Ijeh said: “Lincoln Plaza also marks another win for a tall building in the capital with similar London towers having been nominated every year since 2013.
“Make of these patterns what you will. But what they do not reveal is that this was one of the most closely fought contests in years.
“Not only did this year’s shortlist feature six superlative examples of unreservedly bad architecture, but Lincoln Plaza only won by a hair’s breadth after a long and closely fought battle with the runner-up scheme.”
This marked the fifth year in a row a London landmark had been landed with the award.
In 2012, Greenwich’s Cutty Sark was handed the accolade and in 2013 “prison-like” student accommodation 465 Caledonian Road in Islington won.
In 2013, the award went to south-east London’s Woolwich Central.
Last year, the Walkie Talkie building, home to the popular Sky Garden, scooped the prize with a unanimous vote.
Carbuncle Cup 2016 nominees
1. Lincoln Plaza, Isle of Dogs (winner)
2. Saffron Sqaure, Croydon
3. 5 Broadgate, City of London
4. One Smithfield, Stoke-on-Trent
5. Poole Methodist Church
6.The Diamond, University of Sheffield
Judge Ike Ijeh said the building – which has previously melted parts of glass buildings with sun-rays - was a “gratuitous glass gargoyle graffitied onto the skyline of London”.
Also on the shortlist was The University of Sheffield’s ‘Diamond’ building, Poole Methodist Church and One Smithfield, Stoke on Trent.
