Skanska chooses six architects for UK housing push

Six architects have been selected to work on Skanska’s future housing developments.

PRP Architects; CF Moller; Proctor & Matthews Architects; Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios; White Design and Formation Architects have all made it onto a framework panel through a multi-stage competition involving more than 30 practices.

Skanska Residential – which last month won planning for its first British housing development designed by Formation Architects at Great Kneighton in Cambridgeshire – said the competition, which involved anonymous elements and role playing, had been designed to find architects with a similar ethos to Skanska who would tailor their work in response to customer feedback.

Jamie Wilding, development manager of Skanska Residential, said: “We wanted the architects to be creative and to show us what they stood for. Most of the architects liked the unexpected and creative approach to the competition. The six successful firms really listened to the customers and tailored their presentations to them. The whole idea is to design new homes for real people.”

Magnus Andersson, president of Skanska Residential UK, added: “We think it’s important to listen first and find out what people need from a new home. We need to focus on better quality products, green solutions and to be recognized as a design focused developer. This is what the competition was all about, finding architects who had a similar ethos to us on customer benefits and who we could work with to deliver our vision.”

Stephen Proctor of Proctor & Matthews said his practice was delighted to have made it onto the panel, calling it a “very significant development” for his firm. 

“We’re particularly thrilled to have come through a very thorough competition process where we were up against some very big names,” he added.