“Hastings’ revived seaside pier will go head to head with a stealthy addition to the British Museum and a photographer’s concrete studio in west London in the race to win the RIBA Stirling prize for the UK’s best new building. They are joined on a diverse shortlist by a new visitor centre at Chatham’s historic naval dockyard, a little brick tower of six apartments in east London and a gargantuan complex for the City of Glasgow College – the second year running that the young institution has made the shortlist.”