The Davidson Prize

Building 1.5 million new homes won't solve the housing affordability crisis. In England, there’s more housing space per person now than in the 1990s, yet the average house price to income ratio has doubled. Moreover, traditional housing delivery is carbon and material-intensive.

This broken housing system calls for radically reimagining housing delivery towards a patchwork of retrofit, adaptive reuse, extension and gentle densification – rather than predominately new build – to create the homes we need without exacerbating the climate and biodiversity crises.

Living in the Landscape proposes a community for all ages – an archetype for locally appropriate, low environmental impact housing that could be adapted across the country. It centres on a well-connected site – 30 minutes by rail from London – identified for new housing in St Albans City and District Council’s New Local Plan.

The 300 homes include a mix of housing typologies suitable for all life stages, enabling older adults to downsize and young adults to leave the nest, freeing up other local housing. Shared gardens, canteen, workshop and nursery, foster community. Reusing existing structures, alongside lightweight timber frames and other biobased materials, minimises environmental impact. Whilst permeable surfaces, new mixed woodland and wildflower meadows support climate resilience and enrich local biodiversity. A Community Land Trust model ensures the homes remain permanently affordable, with some apartments for social rent.

Just as the original garden city movement grew from Hertfordshire earth, Living in the Landscape offers a new approach for genuinely affordable, low-carbon, nature-positive homes that respond to local need.

Team
William Burgess, Architect
Oliver Burgess, Strategic Design & Sustainability