The design of new buildings in the Yorkshire Dales National Park will be put under the microscope in a competition being run this year.

The Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority (YDNPA) is running its Best Building Design Award competition – which aims to promote examples of both innovative and sensitive developments – for a second time.

Andrew McCullagh, the YDNPA’s Deputy Head of Planning, said: “It’s often thought that, to get planning permission in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, it is always necessary to make new building work look just like its surroundings – as though it has always been there.

“It is true that this “safe” approach is often successful in getting planning permission and, indeed, where a village or group of buildings is particularly unspoilt, this is a sensible guiding principle.

“However, there is a tendency for it to result in familiar building styles that do little to create excitement or give visual stimulation. As a design approach, it does not necessarily produce buildings that are harmful or ugly – but neither does it encourage architects to experiment with new techniques and materials which, with careful handling, could be used to add vitality and interest without harming their setting.

“It also tends to discourage efforts to use new techniques to make buildings more sustainable and energy efficient – an increasingly important consideration.”

The competition is open to anyone who owns or has in any way been involved in a development that has been substantially completed since 1 January 2003, or from anyone else who simply thinks that a particular development has been successfully carried out and is worthy of an award.

Awards will be made in each of six categories listed on the website but, as these are not mutually exclusive, buildings can be nominated in more than one. Two of the categories are specific to the ideas of innovation and energy sustainability and the others relate to different types of development.

Evaluation criteria will be slightly different for each category, but a common theme will be evidence of attention being given to the individuality of each site in terms of the opportunities it offers and the constraints it imposes.

Nominations have to be received by 11 June 2010 after which finalists will be shortlisted. All finalists will then be visited during July by a team of four judges, chaired by the eminent international architect Robin Snell and including locally-based conservation architect Paul Crosby. There will be an awards ceremony in the autumn to coincide with the publication of an illustrated brochure, when winners will be presented with commemorative plaques.

John Blackie, the YDNPA Member Champion for Planning, said: “We want to get the message across that we are much more open to good new design than people think, and that we positively encourage innovative approaches. There is always the proviso that new development should “fit in”, but this does not necessarily mean yet more of the same.”

Details of the Best Building Design Awards can be found on the Authority website www.yorkshiredales.org.uk/bbda or can be obtained by contacting Lesley Knevitt at the YDNPA on 01969 652326 or by emailing lesley.knevitt@yorkshiredales.org.uk