This year’s Stirling Prize winner is not without controversy. In the couple of days between the winner being announced and my sitting down to write this column, I have heard multiple slightly confused radio hosts querying whether the Elizabeth Line is architecture – or is it, in fact, engineering?

I have often written of the joy I find in the diversity of the British architectural profession, and, for me, this winner showcases it magnificently. For the wider public, architects are often assumed to work largely on ‘Grand Designs’-style jobs – private houses or one-off ‘special’ buildings. The wider profession of polymath and collaborative professionals working on public infrastructure, retrofit, refurbishment, urban planning, and hundreds of carefully considered and crafted ‘background’ buildings slips slightly below the radar of public awareness.

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