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2026 RESULTS

The theme of The Davidson Prize 2026 is: Changing the Game: Building Play into Housing.

This year we called for new ideas unpacking the challenges facing play today, and seeking new solutions for people of all ages inside and outside our homes. We have now announced our finalists!

THE FINALISTS

This is Not a Road: A community-led toolkit for Play
Artform, CW Studio, Made It Together & Civic and Social

A community-led toolkit for adaptable play designs building on Manchester’s radical tradition
No Snakes, Just Ladders - Your second stairs can do more!
Barr Gazetas, Trigon Fire Safety, Adam Nathaniel Furman, #toylikeme

Reimagining the second staircase beyond safety as a space for joy, connection and curiosity
PLAYDECK
R.U.A Studio

Repurposing decommissioned Routemaster buses into mobile play centres

THE LONGLIST

THE (Connected) GREAT (Green) PARK (Play) ESTATE
BPTW with: Farrer Huxley, Julie Futcher, Arup, and Play Disrupt

A thoughtful and sustainable landscape strategy for play space on a post war housing estate
TENEMENTAL PLAY
erz with Vasantha Piyasena

Re-imagining of the iconic Scottish tenement as social infrastructure
Court Rules
Field Section LLP + Dr Asa Roast + Studio Zine

An evolving kit of parts for gamifying shared parking space in a Birmingham suburb
RWP: Retrofitting Water Play
India Aspin Studio & Helen Bickford, Education Officer, British Ecological Society

Bringing a sense of fun and eco awareness into rainwater drainage
SLOW PLAY
Intervention Architecture, Parakeet & Oobe

Promoting relaxed socialising and play in inner city Birmingham, particularly for women and girls
Toy Box
Places not Postcodes

A joined up, resident-led play proposal for encouraging ownership of space
Play Your Part
Root And Erect, Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, Gemma Keaney

A cross-generational game prompting players to reimagine how playfulness can shape daily life
Mewsings on Play
Urban Radicals with Sebastian Tiew, Derin Fadina and Webb Yates

A new model for affordable housing designed to promote mutual support, collective governance, and intergenerational play
Follow the Worm (to a place it calls home)
Wiggle Works

A residential outdoor play strategy focused on SEN communities

JUDGES

Deborah Saunt Founding Director DSDHA
Zafir Ameen Head of School Programmes Open City
Russ Edwards Project Director Latimer
Neil Emery Director Clifton Emery design
Vicky Spratt Housing & Society Correspondent The i Paper
Expert Advisor – Dinah Bornat Founding Director ZCD Architects