Architects with outstanding design skills are being sought to take part in a competition to design a new College Chapel in Oxfordshire. Ripon College, Cuddesdon intends to commission the new building as part of a major programme of expansion and consolidation of its buildings in order to meet the needs of ministerial formation and Christian education in the 21st century.

The overall objective for the chapel is that it will be a place in which people will want to pray and feel attracted to do so. The new building should be welcoming, flexible and functional and of the highest architectural quality. The proposed budget will be some £1.2 million, excluding furnishing and fees.

Selection will take the form of a two stage process, which at stage one seeks expressions of interest. A shortlist of up to five practices will be chosen and invited to produce concept designs.

Anyone interested in being considered should contact the RIBA Competitions Office for a preliminary briefing paper. This can be downloaded from www.architecture.com/competitions

Expressions of interest should be submitted to the RIBA Competitions Office to arrive no later than 14.00 hours on Thursday 11th June 2009.

Expressions of interest are invited from architects/architectural practices who are interested in taking part in a competition for the design of a new College Chapel in Oxfordshire.

As part of a major programme of expansion and consolidation of its buildings to meet the needs of ministerial formation and Christian education in the 21st century Ripon College Cuddesdon is seeking to commission the building of a new chapel at the centre of its campus.

Hopper Howe Sadler are engaged as supervising architects for the whole project and the successful chapel architect will work with them to integrate the winning design into the overall plan for the new buildings.

The present college buildings, by George Edmund Street and others, are Grade II* listed and date from the 1850s and later. They include a major accommodation block dating from the 1970s at the far end of the campus.

The proposed budget for the new chapel will be some £1.2 million, plus furnishing and fees.

Selection will take the form of an invited competition organised by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Competitions Office. This will be organised in two stages :

Stage 1 : Expressions of interest Stage 2 : Submission of concept designs and interview

A maximum of five will be invited to proceed to the competition phase and each will receive an equal honorarium of £5,000 + VAT.