Seven architects have been shortlisted to pitch ideas for the UK's first net zero neighbourhood promoted by the environmental engineering firm, Max Fordham.
The practices are: Archio, Ben Adams Architects, Hudson Architects, Jas Bhalla Architects, New Makers Bureau, Stolon Studio and Transition by Design .
Each architect has just three minutes to pitch to a panel that includes Ali Shaw, Max Fordham, Sunand Prasad, Penoyre Prasad, David Stronge, Peabody, Amrita Mahindroo, DROO Architects and Fran Williams, Architects’ Journal.
Phil Armitage, Director at Max Fordham, said:
"We were bowled over by the number and quality of submissions, so thank you so much to everyone who entered. Selecting only seven entries was really hard and we eventually focussed on the people and practices that had expressed some really interesting, new ideas about the creation of net zero neighbourhoods. We're looking forward to a fascinating and enlightening evening".
The pitch will be held on March 8th at the Building Centre in front of a live audience.
Here, the selected architects tell us why they want to pitch.
Ben Adams Architects
Tell us about your practice
We are a net zero company, committed to reducing carbon in our operations and all our projects. During our decade in practice, half a million buildings have been demolished in the UK - this is incompatible with tackling the climate crisis. In this time we have built a reputation as retrofit specialists, intelligently repurposing existing buildings across all typologies. Recent projects include the radical overhaul of a prominent 1980s building by the Thames where 70% of the existing fabric is reused to create a net zero-ready office, as well as a conceptual masterplan for a sustainable garden neighbourhood centred on communal farming.
How old is your practice?
13 years
Why do you want to take part?
The net zero neighbourhood challenge provides a fantastic opportunity to explore how the ‘beautiful engineering’ principles embodied by Max Fordham House can be applied to existing buildings and rolled out on an urban scale. With this pitch BAA will demonstrate the progressive thinking necessary to drive new, healthier and equitable ways of living, whilst embracing circular economy principles to envision a net zero neighbourhood.
In the past decade we have become experts in retrofit. In the next decade we will become experts in net-zero retrofit. Meaningful change requires genuine collaboration. We believe there are opportunities inherent in this pitch to maximise interdisciplinary collaboration and knowledge sharing, and collectively re-think how we can create sustainable net zero neighbourhoods on an urban scale.
Transition by Design
Tell us about your practice
Transition by Design (T/D) is an Oxford-based architecture and design practice, a workers’ cooperative and a Community Interest Company (CIC). Our team builds homes, neighbourhoods and cities for an ecologically sustainable and convivial future. We have worked with local councils, charities, homeowners, community-led housing groups and more. We use co-design and participatory design to ensure meaningful engagement, and incorporate inclusive principles through design workshops to ensure a diversity of people is fully involved.
How old is your practice?
11 years (8 years as a CIC)
Why do you want to take part?
Illustrating a vision for the UK's first net zero neighbourhood would be a great opportunity to put our team's expertise in creating sustainable and community-led housing to work.
Our team has challenged the status quo in our work, winning Archiboo’s Activism Award for our action-research project Homemaker Oxford (2022). We have also created a guide to give practical advice for homeowners, landlords and renters on retrofitting their homes for Cambridge City Council and recently delivered a report for Oxford City Council on identifying the barriers and opportunities for residents to engage with retrofit & energy flexibility.
Stolon Studio
Tell us about your practice
Stolon Studio is an ethical, ambitious and inventive practice. Whatever the budget we create simple yet transformative projects which are functional, adaptable and achievable, and which support the way that people want to live and work, both now and in the future.
We never lose sight of the role design has to play in addressing the bigger societal challenges we face, such as climate change, flood-risk, public health or an ageing population. We look to maximise social, environmental and economic value in all our work, with built projects that demonstrate our commitment to problem-solving, and which are genuinely innovative in terms of concepts, materials and technology.
We have designed and delivered a number of award-winning sustainable community projects notably Kaolin Court and Forest Mews.
How old is your practice?
6 years
Why do you want to take part?
Stolon Studio has been working on a number of projects to address climate change and rising energy costs at a variety of scales from efficient use at neighbourhood and district level down to ways that as individual householders we can retrofit and insulate our homes. In most cases, shared approaches to energy use will always result in significant benefits.
We are also involved in academic research with three leading universities, looking at the value and nature of biodiversity in urban development. We believe that neighbourhood and sharing is the strongest route to finding real world solutions to net zero, supported with science, agency and community. A non-project based opportunity investigating these ideas will only further progress the discussion.
Jas Bhalla Architects
Tell us about your practice
We are an interdisciplinary design practice operating in the fields of architecture, town planning and urban design. Our work spans a broad spectrum, from urban extensions to deep building retrofit. We collaborate with a variety of clients, including landowners, housebuilders, local authorities and homeowners. All work is united by a common ethos; it is only possible to deliver well crafted, thoughtful and enduring places through a rigorous understanding of context.
We are motivated by producing resilient, people-centred design solutions, particularly for marginalised communities. This focus underpins recent open competition wins, including the "Housing for a Better World Competition" and the William Sutton Prize. Jas has been recognised as one of the Architects Journal’s “40 under 40”, identified as one of House and Garden Magazine’s ‘Rising Stars’, and selected as a Mayors’ Design Advocate.
How old is your practice?
5 years
Why do you want to take part?
As masterplanners we simultaneously explore low carbon neighbourhoods from the top down and bottom up; strategic design aspects like green infrastructure and movement are considered alongside form factor and low carbon materiality.
Motivated by a desire to propose design solutions for real world concerns, we have developed expertise in improving the quality of suburban housing, which typically trails higher-density neighbourhoods. Delivered by risk adverse volume housebuilders, the "status quo" of suburban development continues to underdeliver for both people and planet. Our work for Essex County Council, for instance, explores a range of design solutions at different scales to embed low-carbon, compact development within the Essex Design Guide.
We would relish the opportunity to elaborate on these themes at the Architect Pitch – an event that has a reputation for giving emerging practices a coveted platform to showcase specific insight.
Hudson Architects
Tell us about your practice
We are a young group of 13 architects and designers based in Norfolk. We design sustainable spaces that are practical, beautiful and sit in harmony with their natural surroundings.
We are grounded in our communities, and are active in sharing our knowledge and expertise to help create thoughtfully designed, well-connected, thriving places that drive economic growth and wellbeing.
We are bold in our commitment to sustainability goals, and make responsible, informed decisions to create healthy buildings with optimal energy performance that enhance their environment. We are regional frontrunners in research and development, and we embrace innovation in everything we do.
How old is your practice?
20 years
Why do you want to take part?
We believe in an architecture that crafts community, ecology and economy. Architects have a responsibility to both the climate and people, and the net zero neighbourhood project can show how to balance all of those responsibilities.
Being a Norwich based practice, we work both within the city, and with Norfolk’s rural communities, and often face challenges with demographic, connectivity, historic fabric and a protected natural environment. These must be accepted and negotiated if we are to meet our net zero goals, and we believe we can bring a unique angle to the discussion of progressive neighbourhoods.
This is also an opportunity to share our research and development on bio-based materials and the positive effect they have on wellbeing and the environment. Responsible specification of low carbon materials will be an essential part of our transition to net zero and will provide opportunities for novel engineering solutions.
Archio
Tell us about your practice
We create buildings, places and strategies for local authority regeneration companies, housing associations, select private developers, co-housing and community-led groups. We believe that regeneration is most effective when design teams, councils and local communities co-produce visionary approaches that enrich lives. Our focus is on working with purpose-led clients who have a long-term interest in the vitality of their communities. The practice was founded with a mindset that design should be used to tackle major societal challenges.
How old is your practice?
9 years
Why do you want to take part?
Better Fit and Retrofit, the UK's carbon budget allows for no new housing to be built beyond 2023. As a country could we be considering a total system change to the housing market through 'better fit' and 'retrofit'. Shouldn’t the UK’s 'first net zero neighbourhood' be the one that already exists? We feel passionately about the potential for architects as strategic thinkers to take a more considered role in sustainable housing and future-focused place-making. We would like to make the case for this concept by illustrating our strategic work, community-led housing and local authority retrofit housing projects.
New Makers Bureau
Tell us about your practice
We make imaginative environmental architecture and focus on embodied carbon. Our Arts Centre in Kampala, built from rammed earth and compressed earth bricks, has just completed and we have projects in London completing and coming out of the planning stages. Each of our projects is grounded in our values, are low in embodied carbon, demonstrate reuse of materials and involve enhanced ecology and greening.
As the grid decarbonises over the next 10-20 years, it will become a greater proportion of a building’s lifetime carbon. This focus is core to what makes New Makers Bureau tick. How can we make buildings through reuse, recycling and the inventive use of natural materials without compromising the highest quality of design?
How old is your practice?
Over two years
Why do you want to take part?
The brief represents a chance for us to do a deep dive of research into the net zero neighbourhood. How can we be radical about the approach to housing? We’ll explore different models, such as Baugruppen, community self-build or customisable. What does the ‘net’ part mean, is there offsetting or some sort of compensation? What’s the role of food production in the neighbourhood (it’ a big part of the emissions), and transport? Are there material banks, building passports and other ways to encourage and support a circular approach? How can we make spaces that facilitate exercise and mental wellbeing? And then there's the invitation to create some truly unique architecture - what does this place look and feel like?
Images. Letchworth North, Jas Bhalla Architects (top), Penrose Mews & Courtyard, Stolon Studio (below).photographer, Tim Crocker.
