Sandcastle Competition 2026
26 June 2026
Wow! What an amazing afternoon.
A massive thank you to all the teams who joined us on Frinton Beach for this year’s Sandcastle Competition. On what was a record breaking day temperature wise across the UK, the weather on Frinton beach was absolutely perfect – glorious sunshine, a cooling sea breeze. All of which clearly unleashed some seriously impressive creative talent, design skills, and commitment to teamwork!
In honour of our 80th anniversary, this year’s theme celebrated memorable events from the last 80 years – and the teams did us proud. From the 1969 moon landing to the opening of the Channel Tunnel, through the covid years to the 2026 World Cup, the creativity on display was outstanding.
Amazingly, with an entire 80 year’s worth of events to choose from 4 teams went with mankind’s exploration of space, but others stayed more earth bound with designs covering the opening of the channel tunnel, the covid years, the Greater Gabbard Offshore Wind Farm and the 2026 World Cup.
We were delighted to again welcome the Mayor of Frinton, Councillor Mark Cossens, along with the Deputy Mayor, Councillor Andrea Cossens, who clearly had the most difficult job of the afternoon – determining the winner.
After much deliberation, cogitation, and consideration of the background context for thee designs, the winners and runners-up were announced.
Huge congratulations to Bakers of Danbury who claimed the trophy for their World Cup 2026 design, and past victors Inkpen Downie who this time took the runners-up spot with their interpretation of the 1969 Moon Landing.
And while only one team can win the trophy, we really do feel that it’s the taking part that counts. Thank you to all the teams that joined us and helped make it such a special event full of fun, laughter, team work and finally fish & chips!
We really couldn’t do it without you. So, please take a bow teams:
- Holmes & Hills
- Stanley Bragg Architects
- Purcell
- Harp Design
- Ellisons
- Wincer Kievenaar Architects
- Haydn Evans Consulting
- KLH Architects
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© Daniel Connal Partnership 2026
Designed by Barber Jackson