Innovative Felixstowe scheme wins top housing award

Fourteen outstanding housing developments have been named as winners of the 2022 Housing Design Awards. Together, they represent the very best examples of new housing in the UK, and demonstrate how architects, developers and local authorities are working together to create exceptional places for people to live.

As well as pioneering schemes that positively encourage healthy lifestyles, promote neighbourliness and support everyday family life, this year’s Housing Design Awards winners include urgent responses to the exigent housing shortage and fuel crisis, cohousing design at its very best, along with an exemplary examples of building with nature and celebrating the UK’s industrial heritage.

The 2022 Housing Design Award winners are:

Agar Grove, Camden by Mæ Architects and Hawkins\Brown for Camden Council

Agar Grove is the largest Passivhaus scheme in Britain – a pioneering regeneration project that improves the borough’s housing stock and addresses fuel poverty for council tenants. The generously-sized and light-filled homes are a world away from tenants’ previously undersized and inefficient homes, and cost very little to run. This ambitious scheme is an outstanding example of council-led housing development.

Beaulieu Keep, Chelmsford by TateHindle for Countryside Zest

Set within the ancient parkland of Henry VIII’s Tudor Palace, this evocative design responds to the local vernacular of barns and farmsteads in the Essex countryside. Beaulieu Keep positively promotes active travel and family living through the delivery of 321 spacious homes that integrate into the Beaulieu masterplan of 3,600 houses, new schools for ages 2 to 18, and a forthcoming station.

Carlton Dene, Westminster by Levitt Bernstein for Westminster City Council

Westminster City Council’s new flagship affordable housing and extra care scheme meets the best practice in dementia design, which includes easy wayfinding and visual connections to external spaces. This highly ambitious development will see a combined total of 87 dual aspect Passivhaus homes created. Over 55s and family homeowners stay connected to the wider neighbourhood and have more flexibility in how they use their homes.

CoHUT, Newcastle upon Tyne by Mawson Kerr Architects for Cohousing upon   Tyne/TOWN

This fascinating community-led, intergenerational, cohousing project sits on a brownfield site in Newcastle’s regenerating West End. The 100% affordable and low energy homes provide exceptional value and low running costs, and the development gives residents the space and facilities to use their local landscape to socialise, produce their own food and support local biodiversity.

Duncombe Barracks and Burnholme, York by Mikhail Riches for City of York Council

City of York Council are leading the way with two schemes that seek to be not only Passivhaus but Net Zero Carbon. The design team, led by Mikhail Riches, celebrates the relationship between biodiversity and social spaces through the creation of healthy streets and child friendly neighbourhoods that prioritise pedestrians, with beautiful community landscapes to bring people together.

 Fish Island, Tower Hamlets by Haworth Tompkins for Peabody/Hill

This large scale urban development has transformed a major brownfield site in Hackney Wick, a part of the city undergoing neighbourhood-wide densification. The mixed-use scheme nurtures the existing creative community alongside 500 affordable housing units for residential buyers. Hertford Canal opens up 200m of publicly accessible frontage to accompany the rich industrial heritage of this historic site.

Garrison Lane, Felixstowe by TateHindle for East Suffolk Council

In response to the fuel poverty crisis and an acute housing shortage caused by AirBnB and second homeowners, East Suffolk Council have opened up this brownfield site for the creation of 61 future-proofed, Passivhaus homes. The design has been optimised for user wellbeing, incorporating a new cricket pitch, community allotment, and pavilion edged with walking and cycling routes. Garrison Lane echoes the character of the former school site through a holistic approach to construction; recycling existing materials, adopting modular efficiencies, and retaining heritage buildings.

Kampus, Manchester by shedkm for ASDL (also named as Housing Design Awards 2022 Overall Winner)

An exemplary and flawless example of city centre housing and loft style apartments in Manchester, an area known for factory conversions. This unique, urban oasis comes alive through a planting scheme that thrives during all seasons, and demonstrates the importance of building with nature in all of our towns and cities. This highly considerate approach by shedkm saw the repurposing of Victorian warehouses to connect old and new, and effortlessly binds itself to the local landscape.

Keybridge, Lambeth by Allies and Morrison for Mount Anvil Ltd/BT Telecommunications

This compact urban development includes 584 new homes, workspaces and a new school, and demonstrates how a blend of traditional mansion blocks and contemporary tall buildings can reconcile design quality with high density where a third of the site is open public space. The project also revealed fascinating secrets: forgotten nuclear shelters were rediscovered during construction, believed to link to Parliament and the MI6 building.

Lavender Hill, Wandsworth by Sergison Bates Architects for Marston Properties

This collection of private residential dwellings set within a backlands scheme at the heart of Clapham, are full of character and charm, and sensitively gesture to the Victorian industrial heritage of the site. Nestled among a residual brownfield site within a tight urban block, this development now proudly sees 9 new, energy efficient homes.

Love Wolverton, Milton Keynes by Mikhail Riches for TOWN/Milton Keynes Council

Wolverton is a historic railway town that was absorbed by Milton Keynes in the 1970s. The pioneering spirit of Milton Keynes lives on with this community-led development – but in contrast this is a place that prioritises people over vehicles with a network of car-free ‘little streets’. A ‘common house’ acts as a focus for the vibrant social community, in a bold scheme which also includes co-housing for over-50s, and looks to support Wolverton’s network of independent shops and community facilities as well as opportunities for younger people.

Riverside Road, Watford by Bell Phillips Architects for Watford Borough Council

Five new Passivhaus homes on a brownfield site, designed as emergency short term lets for homeless families. Watford had been paying private landlords more than £1million every year to house families: by investing in well-designed and sustainable homes with low running costs, Watford has been able to support vulnerable families while saving money and energy.

University College, Oxford by Niall McLaughlin Architects for University College Oxford

Niall McLaughlin Architects have worked with one of the country’s oldest education institutions to bring outstanding residential architecture to north Oxford. At the very heart of this dynamic scheme is shared use spaces for multi-generational interaction among the University College community – rooted in beautiful gardens and the residential context of the surrounding Conservation area, in which exceptional community engagement was undertaken.

Vaux, Sunderland by Proctor and Matthews Architects and Mawson Kerr Architects for Igloo Regeneration Ltd/Sunderland City Council

132 new homes at the Vaux will see a post-industrial site – disused for over 20 years – transformed into one of the UK’s most sustainable and liveable neighbourhoods, and an exemplar of high-density city living and working. Set on the edge of the dramatic River Wear gorge, the distinctive silhouette as viewed from across the water is inspired by Sunderland’s historic industrial skyline, and the architects have cleverly used the site’s topography to maximise views for residents over a rich green landscape.

The annual Housing Design Awards recognise the very best in housing design, and are recognised as the most important and highly regarded awards for housing in the UK. They are highly sought after by architects and developers, and the awards are supported by organisations including Homes England, as well as professional institutions including the RICS, RTPI and the Landscape Institute.

For more information about the winners of the 2022 Housing Design Awards visit www.hdawards.org.