Sadler's Wells East Wins RIBA National Award for Architecture
The Stratford venue, designed by O'Donnell + Tuomey, sits on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
Sadler's Wells East, the UK's new powerhouse for dance designed by O'Donnell + Tuomey and situated on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford as part of East Bank, has been awarded aRIBA National Award 2026 for Architecture. The awards, which have been presented since 1966, recognise the best of UK architecture and provide insight into the country's design and social trends. Sadler's Wells East is one of 32 winners from across a range of sectors, scales and building types from all four UK nations.
The judging panel called Sadler's Wells East a “hugely confident new arts facility with a bold architectural design, that not only meets very exacting functional requirements, but successfully creates an icon here for local people”.
On news of the award, Britannia Morton, Executive Director and Co-Chief Executive of Sadler's Wells, said: “We are over the moon that our marvellous building Sadler's Wells East has been recognised by RIBA for its architectural excellence. Congratulations to Sheila, John and their team at O'Donnell + Tuomey who responded to our brief of creating a purpose-built theatre specifically for dance wholeheartedly. With great ingenuity, they have created both a brilliantly functional building that supports the nation's arts infrastructure and a beautifully designed space that is an inviting and welcoming space to experience dance. The building has been a revelation, particularly through its open foyers and its participatory spaces that continue to bring more people into the wonderful world of dance.”
Sir Alistair Spalding CBE, Artistic Director and Co-Chief Executive of Sadler's Wells said: “This is wonderful news and hugely deserved! Sadler's Wells East was a much-needed mid-scale space in the dance ecology and has enabled us to share the very best work from up and down the country and internationally with more people. O'Donnell + Tuomey's ingenious design has enabled artists to scale up their ambitions and play around with different formats for their work. We've transformed the building into a everything from a skatepark to a nightclub thanks to the flexibility that was built into its design. Crucially, it's also a world-class space for artists to test ideas and create new and exciting work for everyone to enjoy”
Sheila O'Donnell said: “We are pleased that Sadler's Wells East has won an RIBA National Award. We were asked by our clients to make a welcoming building that was ready for work. Now the building is buzzing with all kinds of dance activity, night and day. The architectural expression results from the rational arrangement of parts and the rhythmic measure of structure. A civic building, built to last.”
Sadler's Wells East is a nationwide resource for dance that opened in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in February 2025. The first public building to open as part of London's newest cultural and educational district East Bank, it sits alongside BBC Music Studios, V&A East Museum, UAL's London College of Fashion and UCL East. Billed as 'a gamechanger for dance' by Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, Sadler's Wells East is a space for seeing, creating, rehearsing and participating in the artform.
Designed by renowned architects O'Donnell + Tuomey, the building is home to a fully flexible 550-seat auditorium, six state-of-the-art dance studios, a restaurant a bar and The Dance Floor, a public performance space that hosts free lunchtime dance classes, workshops and activity for the local community.
The building is home to two educational facilities: Academy Breakin' Convention, a hip hop theatre school for talented 16–19-year-olds, which opened in September 2025 and offers the UK's first free Level 3 Diploma in Performance and Production Arts specific to hip hop. The Rose Choreographic School is an experimental research project, which enables 13 dance artists to develop their own choreographic practice over a two-year course.
Since the building opened in February 2025, Sadler's Wells East has presented 50 productions in its auditorium. Over 6,600 people have taken part in free activity, workshops or lunchtime dance classes on The Dance Floor. Sadler's Wells has created three brand new productions from scratch in house: the Black British Theatre Award-winning Our Mighty Groove, Quadrophenia: A Mod Ballet which went on tour the UK and to the USA for a run on Broadway, and Ebony Scrooge, a co-production with ZooNation: The Kate Prince Company. It has hosted our first ever Festival celebrating young dance, YFX Festival, which returns next week for its second year, convening over 480 performers aged 5-25 from 33 different youth dance companies from across the country. Two out of the four nominated works for Best New Dance Production at the Olivier Awards this year were presented at Sadler's Wells East.
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