Innovation of the year

They say a great idea goes through three stages: first it is impossible, then it is ridiculous and then it is obvious. There is a flavour of that about the entry from Pollard Thomas Edwards Architects. It put forward two primary schools: St Jude & St Paul’s, and St Thomas’. These are new-build schools with affordable flats on top of them, which is probably the first time that these two development types have been combined. The obvious advantage is that the schools can be built without grant subsidy, thereby disposing of a large area of bureaucracy and enabling the project to go ahead without delay. It also uses the schools air rights, rather than its playing fields, to gain money – surely a better way of going about things. Then there is the other side of the coin: the contribution that the development can make towards easing the capital’s shortage of key worker housing – including, of course, the teachers needed to staff the school. Finally, after the school day is over, the school itself can provide extra amenity for the residents in the flats and the surrounding area. How obvious is that?

Pollard Thomas Edwards has used the air, instead of the playing fields, by building flats over St Jude and St Paul’s primary school

Runners-up

Last year’s regeneration consultant of the year made a strong showing in this category this time around. The judges were impressed by the novel thinking that Mace brought to schemes such as the Castleford Project, soon to be a Channel 4 series, and they were equally enthusiastic about its main entry: the bringing of Barking and Dagenham’s housing stock up to the government’s Decent Homes standard. The key achievement here was the transfer of Mace’s skills to those responsible for creating a better community. It did this through joint working with the council’s 60-strong team and a small group of Mace’s programme managers and planners. The success of this strategy was later shown by a customer satisfaction rating of 86%.

Urban Initiatives

Last year, English Partnerships asked Urban Initiatives to prepare a development framework for the Kent town of Ashford. The town, which is a stop on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, is to be an economic hub of the new South-east, but right now is relatively poor. Urban Initiatives used the novel technique of a large board game to test three growth scenarios, and this was then played by 120 stakeholders divided into three teams. This was so successful in producing an outcome that it has been adopted by the Housing Corporation, CABE, the ODPM, SEEDA and the Housing Federation.

Urban Splash

One of the key players in the market, and possibly the developer that has done most to make regeneration sexy, Urban Splash broke new ground at its Moho scheme at Castlefield in Manchester. This block of 120 apartments was built using modular construction – the first time that this has been done in the UK private sector. Not only has this proved that the modular model can be applied to private housing, but it has demonstrated the quality advantages of doing so, and the fact that the individual units can be contained within great architecture …