The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has announced four shortlisted projects competing for the very first Neave Brown Award for Housing, named in honour of the late Neave Brown, who passed away last year. 

The strong shortlist includes Brentford Lock West Keelson Gardens, London, by Mae Architects, Eddington Lot 1, Cambridge, by WilkinsonEyre with Mole Architects, Goldsmith Street, Norwich, by Mikhail Riches with Cathy Hawley and The Colville Estate, London, by Karakusevic Carson Architects with David Chipperfield Architects.

Neave Brown was a socially-motivated, modernist architect, best known for designing a series of celebrated London housing estates. 

In 2018, he was awarded the UK’s highest honour for architecture, the Royal Gold Medal for Architecture, which is approved personally by Her Majesty The Queen.

The RIBA launched the Neave Brown Award for Housing earlier this year. The selected project was aimed to recognize housing projects built in the UK, "addressing the challenge of housing affordability with impressive thought and innovative design."

The shortlist was selected from the 2019 RIBA Regional Awards winners by an expert panel of judges: RIBA President Ben Derbyshire; Director at Levitt Bernstein Jo McCafferty; and Professor Adrian Gale, formally of the School of Architecture at the University of Plymouth.

To be considered for the 2019 Neave Brown Award for Housing, projects needed to be a winner of a 2019 RIBA Regional Award, be a project of ten or more homes completed and occupied between 1 November 2016 and 1 February 2019 and one third of the housing needed to be affordable and should demonstrate evidence of meeting the challenge of housing affordability, stated the RIBA.

"We urgently need to build new homes in the UK, but must ensure that they are sustainable and of the highest quality to meet the needs of current and future generations. This shortlist presents four exemplars – innovative, creative and highly desirable new communities in a diverse range of locations and situations,” said RIBA President Ben Derbyshire.

"Each one addresses the challenge of housing affordability with impressive thought and innovative design – and are collectively a fitting homage to the legacy of the late, great Neave Brown."

See the full shortlisted projects with their short project description below:

Image © Tim Crocker 

Brentford Lock West Keelson Gardens, London, by Mae Architects

"Thoughtful canalside development comprising six large apartment buildings, with distinctive saw-tooth roofs reflecting the site's industrial past, linked with rows of four storey townhouses."

Image © Jack Hobhouse 

Eddington Lot 1, Cambridge, by WilkinsonEyre with Mole Architects

"Designed for the University of Cambridge, this new residential quarter is an exemplar of integrated urban design. Incorporating a variety of housing types including generous apartments, some wrapped around a new supermarket and integrated with a new doctor’s surgery."

Image © Tim Crocker

Goldsmith Street, Norwich, by Mikhail Riches with Cathy Hawley

"Large development of 105 highly energy-efficient homes for social rent, designed to Passivhaus standards for Norwich City Council."

Image © Peter Landers

The Colville Estate, London, by Karakusevic Carson Architects with David Chipperfield Architects

"Bold regeneration of a Hackney Council housing estate, designed and delivered in close engagement with residents, to provide 925 new homes in a neighbourhood of legible streets and open spaces."

The winner of the Neave Brown Award for Housing will be announced at the RIBA Stirling Prize ceremony on Tuesday, October 8th, 2019.

 Top image: Eddington, Lot 1. Image © Jack Hobhouse

> via RIBA