Britain will become a “dull, second-rate society” unless it builds more of the adventurous modern buildings that other countries take for granted, the Royal Institute of British Architects said yesterday.

Jack Pringle, the president of the organisation, was speaking after announcing a shortlist heavily weighted towards overseas buildings for the twelfth annual Stirling Prize, Britain’s most prestigious architectural award.

The prize rewards the creators of the building that has made “the greatest contribution to British architecture in the past year”, but only two of the six projects nominated are in Britain – the Savill Building in Windsor Great Park by Glenn Howells Architects, and the reconstructed Young Vic Theatre in London, by Haworth Tompkins – and they are both outsiders to win the prize.

The frontrunners are the Casa da Música in Porto, Portugal, by Rem Koolhaas’s Office of Metropolitan Architecture; the America’s Cup Building in Valencia, by David Chipperfield Architects; and the Dresden station redevelopment, by Foster & Partners.

Last year two thirds of the shortlisted buildings were in Britain, but the award was won by a new terminal at Barajas airport outside Madrid, built by the Richard Rogers Partnership.

Yesterday Lord Rogers of Riverside said that British buildings were falling short of the standards set in other countries. “There has been more good architecture in this country over the last ten years than at any time in the last 50 years, [but] there is room for improvement. There should be more exciting buildings in this country,” he said.

Mr Pringle blamed a British mistrust of modern architecture for the shortage. “This is a wake-up call for British clients,” he said. “In Europe people expect that major new buildings will be top-quality pieces of architecture. Here it’s all about making the business case for them and everything has to be justified in a terribly Presbyterian way against the financial and business equations.

“If we live and work in dull, second-rate buildings we will be a dull, second-rate society.”

The winner of the 2007 RIBA Stirling Prize will be announced live on Channel 4 from the Roundhouse in Camden, North London, on October 6. The successful architects will take home a cheque for £20,000.

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