Lion Green Road, designed by Mary Duggan Architects with RUFF Architects, is a previous AJ Architecture Awards winner. It comprises 157 homes across five pavilions with communal landscaping.
The Neave Brown Award jury praised the scheme for its ‘inventive and site-specific response to a highly constrained site’, offering a mix of affordable and private homes on a sloped street, while landscaping created ‘meaningful public benefit’.
Also in the running is Morris+Company’s affordable home development on Plot K1 of south east London’s Canada Water development, delivered in collaboration with White Ink.
Completing the shortlist are Rowan Court by Satish Jassal Architects, the transformation of a disused 1970s estate into 46 low-carbon social rent homes in London; and the 120 homes in Phases 2 & 3 of jmarchitects St Andrew’s Drive project in Pollokshields, Glasgow.
Jury chair Helen Lee, associate director of Witherford Watson Mann, which won last year’s prize with Appleby Blue Almshouse, described the shortlisted developments as responding ‘skilfully to the unique urban challenges of their sites’, while creating ‘beautiful and enduring places to live, supporting communities to grow and evolve’.
She added: ‘The jury deliberated for some time over a very strong pool of eligible projects but were unanimous in championing the shortlisted projects.’
The Neave Brown Award for Housing is named after Modernist architect and social housing pioneer Neave Brown (1929-2018).
As well as Lee, the 2026 jury includes AHMM co-founder Paul Monaghan, and Neave Brown’s granddaughter, Tabitha Oakley-Brown.
Canada Water Plot K1 by Morris+Company with White Ink
Source: Jack Hobhouse Press
The four projects shortlisted for the 2026 Neave Brown Award for Housing:
- Canada Water Plot K1 by Morris+Company with White Ink
A residential building containing 79 affordable homes in Southwark, London. It features an open-ended courtyard which promotes communal interaction and provides a sense of safety, while thoughtful massing allows for a relationship between the courtyard and nearby woodland and the feeling of being immersed in nature.
- Lion Green Road by Mary Duggan Architects (design) with RUFF Architects (delivery)
A 157-unit mix of affordable and private sale homes which exceeds the original brief in terms of number of units. Created with a landscape-led pavilion that delivers high-quality amenity for residents, supports a strong sense of community and accommodates the significant level changes of the site’s typology.
- Rowan Court by Satish Jassal Architects
A council-led housing development in Seven Sisters, London, creates 46 social rent homes on what had been a fragmented and underused site occupied by garages and leftover land. The scheme delivered a coherent and well-used piece of land, delivering family housing while improving the area for surrounding residents.
- St Andrew’s Drive Phases 2 & 3 by jmarchitects
A benchmark for socially conscious housing, the 120 homes forming the second and third phases of the St Andrew’s Drive project sit within a masterplan of clustered blocks and shared green spaces. A stacked maisonette design demonstrates the architects’ ingenuity in negotiating a sloped site, and optimises daylight, privacy and external amenity.
RIBA president Chris Williamson commented: ‘This year’s shortlisted projects demonstrate how high-quality affordable homes can meet both community needs and environmental ambitions.
‘They also demonstrate the skill and care that architects bring to the prime minister’s aim of increasing the supply of great affordable housing.’
The Neave Brown Award shortlist is selected from RIBA Regional Awards 2026 winners. The winner will be announced at the RIBA Stirling Prize ceremony on Thursday 15 October at London’s Old Billingsgate.