Housing Design Awards 2018 open to entries

Schemes can be entered for submission until 14 March

Sponsored by CIAT, the Housing Desgin Awards are the only awards promoted by departments of Government and their agencies. They link arms of national and local government with all major built environment professions and the judging panel composed of planners, surveyors, architects and researchers reflects the need for ideas that are both innovative and replicable.

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s they were led by the Ministry of Housing, reborn this year, their 70th, as the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. Housing Design Awards is the only programme to recognise through shortlisting or awards dozens of schemes once they have planning approval but before they may be built or occupied. This reflects the awards focus on finding the latest ideas for how to serve a range of emerging markets, such as the Private Rented Sector and the search for liveable higher density. Some of these schemes will not be written up in the professional journals for years but their innovation needs to be promoted now.

To date there have been more than 1000 winning schemes with the number awarded increasing in the past decade, reflecting the diversity of the Awards' focus and the surge of quality in growth sectors such as homes for seniors (HAPPI award) and people having greater input into the commissioning of their homes (Custom Build).

Your scheme can be entered for submission to join the role of honour from today until 14 March. Housing Design Awards, run as a social enterprise, invest income from entries and events into analysis and promotion of ideas to improve and expand the country’s housing stock. Alongside awards for skill and innovation in general housing, there are special category awards championed by departments and agencies of government, such as:

Liveable higher density
With the Greater London Authority

Custom-build or factory build
With Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government

Rural development
With Department for Environment, Farming & Rural Affairs

HAPPI (housing an ageing population)
With Housing Learning & Improvement Network & Department of Health

Richard Feilden Award
Promoting great housing for all, with Homes England

All entries to the Housing Design Awards are added to the website to create a national archive. Some occupied winners are also filmed, complete with interviews with residents, helping to spread understanding of what impressed the multidisciplinary judging team.

To find out more about the Housing Design Awards, please click here, or if you are ready to enter a scheme, you can do this online here.