ABOUT THE AWARDS

In 1947 Aneurin Bevan, then Minister for Health with responsibility for housing, announced that his Ministry would be giving annual awards for public housing design and layout. After consultation with the RIBA, awards committees were set up for each of the then four English regions, presenting one medal each for an urban and a rural scheme, except for London where the medals were for one new scheme, and one reconstruction.

The initial scheme ran until 1955, and during this period awards reflected the increasing importance of the urban reconstruction and New Towns programmes, including the first high rise developments, like The Lawns, Harlow, by Frederick Gibberd (1952).

In 1960, the scheme was reconstituted as the Ministry of Housing and Local Government (later DoE) Good Design in Housing Awards, sponsored jointly with the RIBA. The new scheme covered both private and public sector housing, reflecting the emergence of imaginative speculative developments like the Span estate at Southrow, Blackheath, by Eric Lyons (1963).

The next ten years showed a significant shift of emphasis away from public sector high density high rise and private sector low density low rise to compact housing schemes in both sectors, pioneered by Darbourne and Darke’s Lillington Gardens, in Westminster (1969).

In 1981 the NHBC joined the DoE and the RIBA as sponsors, to create the Housing Design Awards. The Awards became a biennial event, and the public and private sector categories were abolished, reflecting their increasing convergence, as in the private village development at Bledlow, Buckinghamshire, by Aldington and Craig (1978).

Eight years later, the RTPI joined the Awards Committee as a fourth sponsor, and a new system of Project Awards was instituted, running in tandem with the awards for completed schemes. In 1997 the two were merged as an annual event, with an exhibition of some 60 selected entries drawn from both categories which now has the facility to visit cities across England in a touring version. Since the mid 1990s the major housebuilders have been winning an ever larger percentage of awards which reflects their move into undertaking more bespoke or semi bespoke development.

In recent years there has been an emphasis on the role of local authorities in helping to bring forward good quality housing. Since 2005 the planning authority has been awarded alongside developer, architect and contractor to reflect this notably in 2009 when the Winner of Winners in Totnes was the fruit of an initiative led by South Hams District Council. The annual presentation ceremony also moved to a lunchtime function at Whitehall’s Banqueting House to reflect government’s patronage of the Awards and to allow more people to attend the ceremony, notably planning authorities from outside the South East.

In 2009 the newly formed HCA joined the Awards as a full partner, reflecting its role in delivering a national housing programme in partnership with both local authorities and the private sector.

2010 sees the welcome return of the Department of Health as an Awards partner, some 62 years after they were launched by Nye Bevan. A special award will be presented each year to a scheme offering a more attractive option for housing our ageing population.

2010 also sees the important addition of the RICS, the housing industry’s largest professional body. It means the awards are genuinely a cross industry partnership between various arms of government, the private sector and all the professional institutions. No other housing awards have the mandate to call themselves “the industry’s Housing Design Awards”.

The Awards are also delighted to announce the support of the London Development Agency and its team at Design for London.

All the recent improvements to the Awards owe a huge debt to Graham Pye, who was chair of both Sponsorship Committee and Judges from 1997 to his untimely death in June 2009. The Awards will sadly miss his expertise and cross-industry commitment.