William Sutton Prize

Green infrastructure stewardship framework and accreditation

Building with Nature offers planners and developers a framework to deliver high-quality green infrastructure with clear standards. The goal is to set standardised practices that highlight ‘what good looks like’ in managing green spaces, ensuring lasting environmental, social, and economic benefits for communities and nature.

“Winning the William Sutton Prize has given us the opportunity to test the market for green stewardship and identify a pathway that can meet the needs of various stakeholders, while upholding a benchmark of excellence. It is a huge honour and has helped to create meaningful change” - Dr Gemma Jerome, Director of Building with Nature

A home-grown solution to delivering net zero

Bell Phillips Architects’ winning proposal imagines a pathway to net zero through the development of a new ‘vernacular architecture’ for all buildings below 11m using natural building materials. This will reduce embodied carbon in construction, encourage the increased production of timber and natural building products, and contribute to reforestation.

“Winning The William Sutton Prize has enabled Bell Phillips to expand our focus on reducing embodied carbon in all the buildings we design. The prize has provided us with dedicated research and development time for our in-house carbon calculation tool and to implement the findings of that into live projects across a range of building types” - Tim Bell, Director of Bell Phillips Architects

Home Made — building zero-carbon communities

Mole Architects were awarded the Prize for their proposal for a zero-carbon homebuilding system designed to support the development of GroupBuild community housing. The system sets out a step-by-step approach from land purchase to completed building, facilitating community-led housing and tackling associated barriers, with the aim of enabling greater numbers of people to come together to build their own homes.

“We’re committed to making this project happen no matter what, but winning The William Sutton Prize has meant that we can focus proper time and energy, giving it a much greater chance of success.” - Meredith Bowles, Founding Director and Principal, Mole Architects

Multi generational, life-long and inclusive living for LGBTQ+ people

Pride of Place Living won with their proposal for a scheme that will provide multi-generational, lifelong and inclusive living for LGBTQ+ people in Leeds. LGBTQ+ communities are disproportionately affected by homelessness and social isolation, and Pride of Place Living will provide a safe and supportive living environment for its residents, helping to tackle these issues.

“Winning the Prize has enabled us to progress our project to the next stage, turning a concept into what we believe will be the UK’s first multigenerational LGBTIQ+ housing community” - Jane Stageman, Chair of Pride of Place Living

Inspiring a love of food in children and the local community

The Hackney School of Food is a collaboration between Chefs in Schools, the LEAP Federation, and architect Surman Weston. It provides ‘seed to spoon’ food education for primary school children in Hackney.

“From the outset, we wanted the Hackney School of Food to be replicated across many more school communities. The William Sutton Prize has enabled us to make this a reality by funding the development of a toolkit to equip and inspire others to create their own School of Food.” - Polly Praill, Head of Development, Chefs in Schools

Helping people custom-build affordable, adaptable, eco-friendly homes and communities

Social enterprise Ecomotive and SNUG Homes won with their proposal for a construction and training hub in Bristol. The project will also provide apprenticeship, volunteering and employment opportunities.

“We would recommend anyone with projects or ideas in the field of affordable and sustainable housing to apply for this award - which is unique in its scope, vision and the practical support available to help turn ideas into reality” - Anna Hope, Director of Ecomotive and SNUG homes

Vision to transform nine main roads through city-wide planning

Jas Bhalla Architects developed a planning policy to encourage high-quality brownfield development along nine key routes in Outer London. The practice’s winning proposal is for a planning policy grounded in ‘place-based design’ guidance, encouraging the transformation of nine main roads in outer London into dense, urban streets.

“Winning has given us access to a lot of insight and support from Clarion, and the profile and recognition of the Prize has opened doors to conversations with councils and the GLA.” - Jas Bhalla, Founder of Jas Bhalla Architects

Helping young Londoners move from homelessness to housing through food

Fat Macy’s is a social enterprise that gets young Londoners out of homelessness and into their own homes. It runs supper clubs and catering events that help its trainees move from temporary housing into rented accommodation. For every hour its trainees volunteer, Fat Macy’s saves money on their behalf to build housing deposits. It also provides valuable work experience.

“We’re so grateful for Clarion’s support. The money has enabled us to make a difference and support even more young people through Fat Macy’s.” - Meg Doherty, Founder of Fat Macy’s

Holistic approach to integration for LGBTI asylum seekers and refugees

Micro Rainbow won with its proposal to increase the number of safe houses for vulnerable LGBTI asylum seekers and refugees. Micro Rainbow has gone on to secure social investment for further expansion. It now has 11 safe houses across England.

“We work with a vulnerable group that is often unpopular. It combines sexuality, gender identity and immigration issues. These are issues that often make companies, funders and individuals uncomfortable to support. This was not the case for Clarion Housing Group. They proudly recognised our innovative and sustainable approach to the widespread issue of homelessness and violence faced by LGBTI asylum seekers.” - Sebastian Rocca, Founder and Chief Executive of Micro Rainbow

Car-free housing typologies for rural densification

VeloCity is a group of professionals from the built environment sector. The team seeks to reimagine and redesign the village for the 21st century – promoting physical activity and car-free environments.

“Since winning the William Sutton Prize, we were able to expand our research on rural development to help bring our VeloCity vision closer to reality. We visited a number of case studies including Byhusene in Copenhagen, and in Denmark, an innovative car-free high density suburban development.” - Petra Marko, VeloCity