Longlist announced for 2025 Davidson Prize

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Elephant in the City - Morris+Company, Hub, Stantec_Hydrock, Studio Knight Stokoe – Permitted Development +

Ash Sakula with Human Nature – One House, Two Homes... make a neighbourhood

RCKa – Beta Boroughs - How Could Better Data Help Us Beat the Housing Crisis_

A IS FOR ARCHITECTURE, WSP, Spacehub – F.U.N.N.E.L

Elephant in the City - Morris+Company, Hub, Stantec_Hydrock, Studio Knight Stokoe – Permitted Development +

James Waddington with Nathaniel Welham and WSP – The Rail Belt

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The longlist for this year’s Davidson Prize has been announced, featuring teams led by Morris & Co, Ash Sakula and RCKa.

The fifth annual competition, which is run by the Alan Davidson Foundation, has asked for innovative solutions to the UK’s housing crisis and fresh approaches for how to use land.

Proposals to build on railway lands, high street infills, new concepts for brownfield regeneration and innovative models for housing in protected rural landscapes are among 16 longlisted entries.

The projects were selected by a panel chaired by architect and planner Pooja Agrawal of Public Practice and comprising urban designer and researcher Akil Scafe-Smith of Resolve Collective, developer Jonathan Falkingham of Urban Splash, architect Jonny Buckland of Studio Saar and journalist Lucy Watson of the Financial Times.

This year’s brief invited multidisciplinary teams including architects to address issues arising from the UK government’s ambitious target of building 1.5 million homes over the next five years. 

It asks where these homes could be built and how quality as well as quantity can be ensured as part of a set of policies which have loosened planning rules and established mandatory housing targets for local authorities.

The panel said the longlist was underpinned by some radical ideas around the policies, finance and funding systems of housebuilding, including concepts for combating urban sprawl through densification and infill solutions, new housing typologies, and innovative retrofit solutions.

Agrawal, chief executive of Public Practice, said: “One of the great things about The Davidson Prize is the way it brings together multidisciplinary teams. For me that’s not just about bringing together different professional skill sets, but also people’s lived experiences. After all housing is about people’s homes

“The range of proposals we assessed were varied, tackling finance, typologies and planning. There were so many interesting ideas to learn from and collectively they provided a vision for what the future of housing in the UK could look like.”

The longlisted and finalist projects will be showcased during the London Festival of Architecture on 10 June2025 at Heatherwick Studio’s London headquarters, Making House in King’s Cross, when the winner of the £10,000 Davidson Prize will be announced.

The winning team will also receive a week of Hayes Davidson’s support to help them engage key decision makers in UK housing with their concept, to take it further and help them realise their ideas.

The public is invited to vote for its favourite project from the longlist here until 28 April 2025 at 18:00 GMT. The People’s Choice winner will be announced during the award ceremony in June.