Building Award Winners: Housing project of the year

Royal Road, London - Panter Hudspith Architects

Royal Road truly impressed the judges this year and was “neck and neck” with Pilgrim Gardens on most measures. Won in competition in 2006, this attractive scheme
in London’s Elephant & Castle provides 96 affordable homes including 20% shared ownership. Cleverly arranged to allow the retention of most of the existing mature
trees on the site perimeter, every home exceeds minimum space standards with good cross-ventilation and daylighting levels. The scheme also meets level four of
the Code for Sustainable Homes.

Abode at Great Kneighton, Cambridgeshire - Proctor and Matthews

This project is part of a major new community south of Cambridge with more than 300 homes arranged as a sequence of spaces and housing types that respond to their surroundings. Architect Proctor and Matthews says the result is a “genuine mixed community that contains a rich variety of housing typologies to suit a wide range of needs, together with a generous and thoughtfully designed public realm”. A simple palette of materials is used with all buildings sharing a base of “Cambridge” stocks.

Halton Court, London - PRP Architects

Like Pilgrim Gardens, Halton Court is a scheme for older people that meets all of the Department of Health’s HAPPI criteria, and is designed to maximse opportunities for social interaction. The development, part of the Kidbrooke Village regeneration project in south-east London, is based around a “core and cluster” arrangement, with the five clusters an innovative alternative to the more limiting layout of long double-banked corridors and single-aspect flats typically found in such developments.

Hanham Hall, Bristol - HTA Design

Intended as an exemplar model for sustainable living and the first zero-carbon project by a major housebuilder, key phases of Barratt Homes’ Hanham Hall are now complete. All 50 released homes on the site near Bristol are sold out and residents are happy, architect HTA Design reports. The Hanham Hall team worked hard to make the project happen through the economic downturn, using prefabricated construction to meet the demanding technical standards with the main fabric of homes built in just two days.

Goodman’s Fields, London - careyjones chapmantolcher

Goodman’s Fields SW Block, in London, provides accommodation for 617 students, and architect careyjones chapmantolcher says it serves as proof that good design
does not have to cost. Described by one judge as “very stylish”, the scheme, delivered on a strictly limited budget, boasts a very efficient layout and includes welcoming shared spaces, a bright courtyard and generous study bedrooms, with the design intended to create a “safe yet exciting environment to live, learn and play”.

One Church Square, London - Paul Davis + Partners

Dolphin Square Foundation approached architect Paul Davis + Partners to provide a sustainable development for key workers on the busiest road in Westminster, located within a conservation area, on a site adjacent to the grade I-listed James the Less Church and grade II-listed estate. The scheme has overcome such challenges to create a vibrant development of 39 units over five storeys, and it was so popular that it reached full capacity within the first month of being on the market.

Roussillon Park Phase 1, Sussex - ZeroC

Phase 1 at Roussillon Park, by green developer ZeroC, comprises 63 homes and was sold off plan, largely at asking price. Built on the site of a former army barracks in Chichester, West Sussex, the developer aimed to create a “sensitive yet striking” scheme that respected its history. A contemporary take on Georgian architecture, all the homes in phase one are heated through a district biomass energy centre and all the private houses are fitted with rainwater harvesting.

This award was sponsored by Alu-Timber