Islington Housing Design Competition

Islington has a strong heritage of high quality housing from Georgian and Victorian terraces to modern housing estates such as Lubetkin's Spa Green Estate. The borough is diverse and vibrant yet also faces challenges in the areas of housing supply, health inequalities, safety and environmental sustainability.

The Council supported by Design for London and Homes for Islington is holding a design competition. We are seeking the participation of design firms to develop a new exemplary architectural design for affordable family housing. This new type of housing will provide a sustainable, spacious and high quality living environment for its residents. Islington Council would like this form of housing to become as emblematic of Islington as its Georgian town houses.

This new style will be exemplified through the development of a housing scheme in Finsbury Park. This development will be implemented by Homes for Islington. The chosen location is typical of the many potential housing sites within Islington and Inner London.

The objectives of the competition are:

• To develop a new exemplary architectural style for high quality, high density, sustainable, affordable housing for families in Inner London, and in particular, for Islington.
• To exemplify this style through the development of a housing scheme at Vaudeville Court, Finsbury Park, N4 2QG
• To deliver real innovative thinking within technical and financial constraints

The competition will be judged on:

• Design quality and in particular the way in which the team has balanced the many competing demands within the brief, the planning guidance note and the Mayor of London's emerging housing design guidance
• The extent to which the design team has balanced the specific challenges of the location
• Sustainability
• Affordability and deliverability
• Accessibility for mobility impaired people
• Liveability - the extent to which the scheme provides a welcoming and adaptable living space for local families
• The extent to which the design is reproducible across Inner London and more widely

The judging panel will comprise of representatives from Islington Council, Homes for Islington, the Homes and Community Agency, Design for London, a professional architect and a local resident.

Key dates

Entrance to this competition has now closed. 59 submissions have been received and the judging panel is in the process of evaluating them. The short list will be announced by the end of March 2010.