Croydon council housing scheme wins RIBA Stirling prize as UK's best new building
The Lion Green Road housing scheme in Coulsdon, in the London borough of Croydon, has won the RIBA Stirling prize for the UK's best new building. It was designed by Mary Duggan Architects with Ruff Architects.
A council-led housing development, Lion Green Road in Coulsdon, in the London borough of Croydon, has been named the UK's best new building of the year. It won the Stirling prize, the top architecture award in Britain, given by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). The project was designed by Mary Duggan Architects with Ruff Architects. The win was unexpected, as bookmakers had rated it an outsider.
Only once before has the Stirling prize gone to a council housing project: Goldsmith Street in Norwich in 2019. The latest award draws attention to housing design as the government plans to invest £39bn in the sector. The first £10bn allocation, announced in August, is intended to kickstart 70,000 affordable homes. Andy Burnham has spoken of a comeback for council housebuilding.
Five towers on a wooded slope
The original brief called for 80 homes, but architect Mary Duggan fitted in 157 flats across five pavilion-like towers, keeping the site's mature trees and bluebell woodland. The flats in each block radiate from a central lift core, so every home has windows on two sides. All five towers share the same star-shaped plan, but each is slightly rotated to limit direct overlooking between neighbours. The site includes a public route, a sensory garden, allotments and play areas, with no perimeter fence.
Half of the flats, in two towers, are private rentals. The other half, in three blocks kept by the council, are let at local housing allowance rates. Unlike the Norwich scheme, it is not true social housing. All blocks have equally generous lobbies regardless of tenure. Construction cost £2,500 per square metre, the lowest of any project on the shortlist.
The fate of Brick by Brick
The client was Brick by Brick, a wholly council-owned company set up by Croydon in 2015. It was halted in 2020 when the council went bankrupt, and numerous projects were cancelled. Housing experts attribute the collapse to poor financial structuring, governance and risk management rather than weaknesses in development expertise or quality. The company built 751 homes, more than half of them affordable.
