Lion Green Road wins the 2026 RIBA Stirling Prize
Delivering high-impact, low-energy social housing
Following Lion Green Road’s RIBA Stirling Prize win, we’re taking a look back at some of our other residential projects from our history.
Creating homes that are socially and environmentally sustainable has long been an important part of our work. From Max’s work with Neave Brown on the iconic Alexandra Road Estate in the 1970s, to today’s ultra-high-performing Willohaus, we continue to push the boundaries of sustainable and inclusive design, working with our collaborators to create homes that are beautiful, efficient and healthy for their inhabitants.
Alexandra Road Estate
Alexandra Road Estate
This striking piece of architecture in North London pioneered a modernist approach to high-density, low-rise living. It is the first post-war housing estate to be listed by English Heritage and is an early example of our founder Max Fordham’s innovative approach to sustainable building services engineering.
The estate consists of over 500 homes, a school, and a community centre. The now-famous sweeping curved design provides each dwelling with its own private open area. Max teamed up with architect Neave Brown to produce the iconic design for Camden Council and the work was completed in 1978.
Alexandra Road Estate backs onto the busiest railway line in the country so the building was insulated with double walls and windows and its foundations were mounted on rubber pads to absorb vibration. The building itself is also an acoustic barrier from the railway noise, while its orientation embraces ‘free’ heat and daylight from the sun.
Max's design included an innovative heating system comprising pipes embedded in the structural concrete walls. This approach was devised to solve problems of uniform heating, to answer Camden Council’s brief of the heating being ‘as economical as possible’, and to hide the building services.
©Lorenzo Zandri
Lion Green Road
Lion Green Road is a Stirling Prize Award-winning landscape-led residential development led by Mary Duggan Architects and completed in 2018 in the London Borough of Croydon. Lion Green Road delivers 157 new homes across five sculpted pavilion buildings set within a richly planted parkland setting.
The scheme responds to a challenging sloping site while creating a distinctive new neighbourhood that combines higher-density housing with generous open space, biodiversity and strong connections to the surrounding landscape. The pavilion arrangement maximises daylight, privacy and views, with homes organised around shared gardens, play spaces and allotments.
A fabric-first approach combines highly insulated, airtight construction with high-performance glazing and careful detailing of thermal bridges. Materials were chosen for their modularity, thus reducing upfront and embodied carbon.
We developed the MEP design to the Employer's Requirements Stage 3 and undertook sustainability, energy, and overheating modelling to support planning, helping to shape a scheme that prioritises comfort, resilience, and low operational energy use.
© David Grandorge
Central Somers Town Community Facilities and Housing
Central Somers Town, completed in 2021 by Adam Khan Architects for Camden Council, is an exceptional example of social housing and facilities that have been designed to meet the needs of a community. The project was nominated for the RIBA Stirling Prize in 2023. The mixed-use development includes a community play facility, a roof-mounted 'MUGA' pitch, external play areas, an education building, and 10 residential units. We provided MEP, acoustic, and sustainability consulting on the project.
The residential part of the development includes 10 social housing flats owned and operated by the council. The play facilities building houses the Plot 10 Community Play Project and After School and Breakfast Club, an organisation that has been at the heart of the local community for 50 years; and the education building provides the base for Scene and Heard, a mentoring charity that partners local children with volunteer arts professionals.
The environmental design was developed with a 'passive first' approach with a high standard of thermal insulation, building air tightness, daylight and natural ventilation. The apartments have exceptional passive cooling features. The windows have solar control glazing to provide good daylight without excessive solar heat gain. Further solar control is provided by movable external shutter shading that can block the heat from intense summer sun but allow sunlight and heat to enter during winter.
© Bill Haynes
Bluebird
Bluebird, a 2026 CIBSE Residential Project of the Year winner was completed in 2022 by SKArchitects for the Homeless Action Resource Project in Southend-on-Sea. Bluebird helps homeless people return to independent living with joy and dignity, providing 50 beds through a renovated terrace of properties and a new Passivhaus-certified, gas-free mews-style housing development to the rear of the site.
The result is high-quality, aspirational, yet affordable accommodation that helps local people turn their lives around and overcome homelessness for good, and a base for HARP’s staff and volunteer teams to carry out their life-changing work. We served as the MEP and Passivhaus consultants on the project.
© Jack Hobhouse
Burridge Gardens
Burridge Gardens, led by Hawkins\Brown for Peabody, is a social and private housing redevelopment delivered in three phases. We provided MEP, Environmental Design, Sustainability Consultancy, acoustic advice, and planning support for phases one and two, and concept design and support for planning submission for phase three.
The scheme will double the number of homes on the site to 684, including 54 specialist extra-care homes for older people and 242 homes for social rent. The project is also providing community facilities, retail, and over 13,000m2 of new communal open space.
Working closely with Hawkins\Brown Architects, and aligned with best practice at the time, we designed an energy strategy that exceeded targets set by Wandsworth Council and Greater London Authority's Energy Team. A centralised energy centre provides combined heat and power (CHP) and generates heat for the entire site, distributed through a district heating network. A significant proportion of electrical demand is supplied by a large array of roof-mounted photovoltaic panels, and the district heating network minimises heat losses and is adaptable for any future decarbonisation of the estate. All the homes were designed to achieve Code for Sustainable Homes Level 4, while the commercial spaces meet the BREEAM 'Excellent' standard.
© Jack Hobhouse
Agar Grove Estate
The redevelopment of Agar Grove Estate with Mae, and Hawkins Brown sets a new standard for social housing. The first Passivhaus development of its kind in the UK, it has meaningfully tackled fuel poverty by reducing residents' fuel bills by 70% and has influenced changes to the London Plan in relation to district heat networks. We have provided consultancy across masterplanning, MEP, Passivhaus, utilities infrastructure and sustainability on the wider Agar Grove project.
Phase 1A, completed in 2018, consists of 38 socially rented Passivhaus homes. Dwellings are dual-aspect, enabling cross-ventilation for effective natural cooling. Deep, south-facing balconies block peak summer solar gains, and large window openings allow purge ventilation. Renewable energy is provided via a PV array, exemplary airtightness helps to reduce heat losses and improve thermal comfort, and comprehensive post-occupancy evaluation has helped improve residents' comfort and experience. An innovative communal MVHR ensures a continuous supply of fresh filtered air. Data has shown that internal temperatures rarely dropped below 21°C in winter and only went above 26°C during the peak summer months, while resident feedback showed that all residents felt the air quality in their apartments was good and general comfort was a huge improvement on their previous flats.
Phase 1B, completed in July 2021, consists of 57 social and market-rate Passivhaus homes. Much of the MEP strategy from Phase 1A has been duplicated, with the Passivhaus ‘fabric first’ approach helping to achieve a high build quality. Individual MVHR units for each apartment provide fresh air and reduce heat loss, while solid materials, comprehensive insulation and robust detailing ensure good noise separation.
Phase 1C consists of 125 homes across two blocks and was completed in 2024. Changes in legislative requirements allowed us to deliver this phase as fossil fuel-free. The innovative heating system uses an ambient loop system that minimises distribution losses, enhancing summer comfort and allowing for the graceful introduction of active cooling in the future as the climate continues to warm. Each core has centralised air source heat pumps which produce tepid water, which is then circulated around the building, with the temperature boosted by local water source heat pumps in each dwelling, creating higher temperatures for heating and hot water.
© Gavin Stewart
Greenhaus
Greenhaus, completed in 2024 with Buttress for Muse, is an all-electric social housing project that helps manage both emissions and energy costs for occupants while delivering outstanding quality and comfort. Part of the Salford regeneration masterplan, Greenhaus is the first project of its kind in the northwest of England and the biggest Passivhaus social housing scheme in the region.
Located in the heart of the city, the nine-storey development offers 96 one- and two-bedroom affordable homes, with retail space on the ground floor. Properties built to Passivhaus standards enjoy reduced heating energy consumption of around 90% compared to traditional housing stock and 70% compared to typical new builds, helping residents to reduce their fuel bills and cut their carbon footprint. We provided Passivhaus consultancy and undertook building performance evaluation on the project.
© Jon Parker Lee
Willohaus
Willohaus, completed in 2026 and led by Buttress for Muse, creates 100 new and affordable, high-quality Passivhaus homes in the heart of Salford. The regeneration of Salford aims to put people and community first by delivering energy-efficient, comfortable homes that will support healthier and more sustainable living in Greater Manchester.
Following the success of the Greenhaus development, Willohaus is built to the same rigorous standards. Passivhaus Classic-certified residential buildings enjoy reduced energy demand by around 90% compared to traditional housing stock and by 70% compared to typical new builds, helping residents reduce their fuel bills and cut their carbon footprint.
We provided Passivhaus design advice, sustainability consultancy and net zero carbon input throughout the project. We are also undertaking post-occupancy evaluation to assess operational performance and occupant experience, helping to inform future developments.
