Nationwide Sustainable Housing Awards 2008

INTRODUCTION

This is the first of an annual ideas competition open to undergraduate architecture and design students, sponsored by Nationwide Building Society and proposed to run over three years. The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) will be managing the delivery of the competition. Strategies for the individual home as well as the wider community are invited. Emphasis can be placed on refurbishment, as well as or as an alternative to newbuild.  The intention is to stimulate and reward both innovative thinking about how people can live more sustainably in the future and also the successful visualisation of key themes integrated into a hypothetical environment.

OBJECTIVES

Nationwide Building Society is the second largest mortgage lender in the UK and a leading provider of funds for affordable housing. Having made their own corporate commitments towards a sustainable future, Nationwide now wish to promote social, economic and environmental sustainability in housing. In sponsoring this competition they seek to incentivise the design professionals of the future, as well as future homeowners, to take account of and be inspired by the challenges of sustainability in housing. Nationwide also wish to focus the attention and capture the imagination of the wider public through promoting and exhibiting the shortlisted entrants. In developing ideas for high quality affordable housing, the competition should also generate ideas and influences for community infrastructure, in terms of social and economic factors and environmental impacts, such as resource-efficiency.

JUDGING PANEL

Graham Beale, Chief Executive, Nationwide;
Ian Duncan, Corporate Responsibility Manager, Nationwide;
Lynne Sullivan, Architect and Executive Director, Inbuilt Ltd;
Walter Menteth, Architect and Lead consultant, WMA;
David Orr, Chief Executive, National Housing Federation;
Paul King, Chief Executive, UK Green Building Council;
Anne Ashworth, Assistant Editor (Property), The Times;
Louise Harrison, RIBA Competitions Office (Observer).

AWARDS CEREMONY AND EXHIBITION

An Awards Ceremony will be held at RIBA Headquarters, London on 2nd February 2009, followed by an exhibition of the shortlisted and winning competition entries. The event will be hosted by Kevin McCloud, Grand Designs presenter, designer and author.

CONTEXT

The theme of this first year’s competition is Sustainable Housing in an Urban Environment. Within this theme, there will be awards for each of three categories: Existing Housing; New Build; Community/Neighbourhood. A specific site is not defined, and there is no commitment to build any of the winning entries, but a hypothetical context must be described in broad terms in order to demonstrate the entrant’s response to the brief. In the case of refurbishment a specific context and existing building typology will need to be described.

There is no specific definition of the ‘Urban’ context, or the ‘Sustainable Urbanism’ approach which is sought, but there is an inherent assumption that an appropriate site will be substantially mixed-use in character and accessible by public transport.

Exemplar new developments such as Vauban, Freiburg; Hammarby, Stockholm; Kronsberg, Hanover; Malmo; Ijberg etc may be relevant. Other regeneration models, e.g. applying homezone principles to existing neighbourhoods, will also be useful.

REQUIREMENTS

Entries are expected to address all specific issues relevant to sustainability in the individual home and/or the wider community. We anticipate key considerations to be addressed, for example:

• Low/zero operational energy
• Reduction in embodied energy
• Reduction in waste to landfill
• Affordability in a whole life context
• Visual interest and comfort
• Cultural/contextual reference
• Conservation of water
• Biodiversity, ecological enhancement and reducing food miles
• Low-impact transport and movement with emphasis on walking and cycling
• Adaptability, accessibility and security
• Enabling community development and community management
• Enabling homeworking via lifestyle flexibility, e.g. livework, IT-enabled choices
• The impact of vehicle deliveries and private cars and make reasonable provision for visitors, car clubs and low-carbon personal transport.

SUBMISSION

Entrants are invited to define or comment on the suitability of their proposals to different tenure types and different cultural and physical contexts.

The accompanying technical report should, where possible, describe specific expected outcomes or impacts arising from design strategies utilised and make reference to relevant benchmarks. For example, space heating and hot water strategies can be described with relevant key specifications and expected kwh/m2 per annum performance. This could also be referenced to PassivHaus or Code for Sustainable Homes energy performance standards. With other strategies, outcomes may be less specific and there will be acknowledgement that sustainability is a dynamic and location-specific concept.

The Nationwide Sustainable Housing Awards competition will be open to students in Years 1 to 3 of undergraduate courses at architectural and other related design colleges.

Entries should be anonymous and comprise no more than 2 x A1 lightweight boards and an accompanying technical report (maximum of 10 x A4 sides).

Drawings of internal layouts should be a minimum of 1:50 scale.

Eligibility criteria must be satisfied. A successful competitor must be able to satisfy the assessors that he/she is the bona fide author of submitted designs.

JUDGING

Assessment criteria will be based on the key considerations outlined in Requirements above.

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