The Grade II listed modernist Preston Bus Station, opened in 1969, has won the 2021 World Monuments Fund/Knoll Modernism Prize has been awarded to John Puttick Associates, in recognition of their thoughtful and detailed conservation of the building.

Awarded every two years, the World Monuments Fund/Knoll Modernism Prize recognizes architects, designers, and preservationists who have demonstrated innovative solutions to preserve and save threatened modern architecture. Preston Bus Station is a striking, and sometimes controversial, example of brutalist architecture and transport planning from the 1960s. Designed in 1968 by Keith Ingham and Charles Wilson of the Building Design Partnership (BDP) and the engineering firm Ove Arup, it acted as the hub and municipal transit centre for the Central Lancashire New Town. It remains the UK’s largest bus station, and the second largest bus station in Europe, with over 10,000 departures each week.

In awarding the 2021 World Monuments Fund/Knoll Modernism Prize to the station’s conservation team, the jury recognized its success in preserving both the aesthetic of the station and its essential role as an urban hub for mass public transit.