Housing shortlists revealed for AJ Architecture Awards 2024

In total, over 120 projects have been shortlisted across 20 categories for this year’s AJ Architecture Awards, the annual showcase of the very best built projects in the UK. The shortlists are being revealed over the course of this week.

With housing a key issue on the government’s agenda, the housing category received more entries than any other this year. As such, it has been split by cost into three parts.

In Housing project (up to £10 million), affordable housing is big on the agenda. Brambling House features, a scheme where Urban Projects Bureau has created a hybrid terrace/mansion block form to stitch into its neighbourhood the wider, new-build Meridian Water development, which is planned to have 40 per cent affordable housing.

FBM Architects, meanwhile, is shortlisted twice: once for its shared ownership homes for Bow. Haysom Ward Miller is also on the list for its 21 community-led homes in Great Shelford, just outside Cambridge.

In the £10-40 million split, the seven-strong shortlist includes Morris+Company, Coffey Architects, Bell Phillips, Tim Groom Architects and Adam Khan Architects. SODA is on there with Roco, an office-to-residential scheme in Liverpool, which was highly commended at the AJ Retrofit & Reuse Awards earlier this month.

Child Graddon Lewis’ 300 Harrow Road, a project notable for switching to 100 per cent affordable during its construction and appraised by the AJ at the start of the year, leads the list for the top priced housing bracket. Alison Brooks Architects features twice in this category, which has a shortlist of nine.

In a category aimed at small projects only, Project under £500,000 surprisingly has fewer residential schemes than usual and shop fit-outs feature largely. The AJ Retrofit & Reuse Awards-winning scheme Costa’s Barbers is in there, along with fellow-award winning Natalino Mortimer Street, a project featuring recycled paper pulp.

The expert judges, who are in the process of visiting every shortlisted scheme, include Eleanor Fawcett of Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation, Biba Dow of Dow Jones Architects, Simon Sturgis and Daisy Froud.

In addition to stand-out design, the judges will consider how each project has met or exceeded its brief, how it has promoted client or community engagement and how it has excelled in the use of space or sense of place. They will also analyse what sustainability measures have been put in place. Each project must have been completed between 1 January 2023 and 31 July 2024.

The winners in the 20 categories, plus the three editorial-chosen awards, will be announced at a celebratory dinner event at a new venue this year – Park Plaza Westminster Bridge, London – on 3 December 2024. More information can be found here.

 

Housing project (up to £10 million)

• Athron Hill Phases 1 & 2 by Fraser/Livingstone Architects
• Brambling House Meridian One by Urban Projects Bureau
• Great Shelford Almshouse Development by Haysom Ward Miller Architects
• Hermitage Mews by Gbolade Design Studio
• Regent Place by FBM Architects
• Thornton House by FBM Architects

 

Housing Project (£10-40 million)

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• Canada Water, K1 by Morris+Company
• Cobham Bowers by Coffey Architects
• Commercial Way by Weston Williamson + Partners
• Cosway Street by Bell Phillips
• Poplin by Tim Groom Architects
• Roco by SODA Studio
• Tower Court by Adam Khan Architects

 

Housing project (£40 million and over)

• 300 Harrow Road by Child Graddon Lewis
• Author King’s Cross by David Morley Architects with Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios and Haptic
• College Road by HTA Design and TiggColl Architects
• Former Nestlé Factory – Truscon House, Laurina Apartments, Maya House and Forastero House by dMFK Architects
• Knights Park by Pollard Thomas Edwards and Alison Brooks Architects
• Landmark Pinnacle by Squire and Partners
• Maitland Park Estate by Cullinan Studio with ECE Westworks
• Rubicon by Alison Brooks Architects
• The Haydon by ACME

 

Project under £500,000

• A Room Around a Tree by Tikari Works
• Costa’s Barbers by Brisco Loran and Arrant Industries
• Folded House by Westerdahl
• Natalino Mortimer Street by Mooradian Studio
• Patchwork Hemphouse by Cathie Curran
• St John’s House by Paul Archer Design
• The Oaks Retreat by Hollaway Studio
• West 16th Cafe and Creative Studio by R2 Studio Architects

 

The AJ Architecture Awards 2024 are sponsored by