The prevalence of high quality new housing developments is the stand-out trend in this year’s RIBA National Awards, with almost one fifth of the winning schemes in this sector.
Seven of the 37 winning buildings are residential, with developments ranging from large housebuilders and housing associations to smaller bespoke schemes by private investors picking up awards. This number is a significant increase on last year’s awards where only 11% of the winning schemes were housing developments.
The schemes include the regeneration of more than 200 homes on the Gorbals district of Glasgow (pictured above), where McTaggart Construction acted as the main contractor, and a five-storey, 13-home affordable housing block for Peabody in east London built by Sandwood Design and Build.
Affordable housing block for Peabody in east London
There were also awards for Carillion’s NEO Bankside development; Parkside in Derbyshire by Barncroft Homes; West Burn Lane by Ogilvie Construction; Abode in Cambridgeshire built by and for Countryside Properties; and Brentford Lock West by Wilmott Dixon for ISIS Waterside Regeneration.
Carillion’s NEO Bankside development
Parkside by Barncroft Homes
RIBA president Stephen Hodder said: “The UK is blighted by poor-quality new housing and dilapidated school buildings, so I am delighted that the notable trends amongst this year’s RIBA National Award-winners are the volume of inspiring new housing and education projects.
“I am particularly pleased to award an unprecedented number of housing developments. The innovative spirit of these projects sets them apart from the ubiquitous, uninspiring housing developments being built all over the country. Our award winners show it is possible to build exceptional new housing developments that are profitable, sustainable and desirable places to live.”
Continuing the trend of recent years, and reflecting its importance to the construction industry, London was the region that received the most awards, with projects in the capital winning 14 of the 37 awards.
The judges also noticed an increasing use of brick with a large number of projects built from the material winning awards.
Hodder added: “One intriguing design trend is the use of brick, in all its hues (British, Danish), patterns and textures, as the dominant material for many of the award winners. Brick is firmly established in the British psyche as a safe, long-lasting, familiar material. Our award winners have used bricks to great effect – whether to respond contextually, or to imbue their buildings with humanist qualities.”
The 37 RIBA National Awards winners form the shortlist for the Stirling Prize for the UK’s best building of the year, the winner of which will be announced on Thursday 15 October in London.
See all the winners here.
