Team wins £10,000 for proposal to revive a Plymouth high street with modular affordable housing
A team led by Exeter-based design studio Clifton Emery Design has been named as the winner of the 2025 Davidson Prize.
The team, which also includes Nudge Community Builders, Millfields Trust, Plymouth Energy Community and Devon and Cornwall Planning Consultant, was announced as the winner of the £10,000 prize at an awards ceremony yesterday evening in central London hosted by Heatherwick Studio.
This year’s competition, which had the theme ‘Streets Ahead: The race to build 1.5m homes’, asked entrants to propose innovative housing solutions for urban, suburban or rural sites, focusing on a community of 300 homes in a real location anywhere in the UK.
The winning team’s entry, called 300 Homes within a Union Street Mile, focused on reusing and extending vacant structures with affordable community housing and residents’ amenities in order to revive the area.
It explored ways in which Union Street in Plymouth could be revitalised using incremental development and affordable residential uses with co-living features in modular, prefabricated and low carbon homes.
Jury chair Pooja Agrawal said judges had been “truly inspired” by the proposal, which she said had the “potential to be transformational”.
“For too long, the sector has relied on and incentivised housebuilders as the primary solution to meeting ambitious housing targets,” Agrawal said.
“This proposal challenges that norm—demonstrating the need for more collaborative, grass-roots and innovative approaches that we believe are genuinely scalable.
“It captured all of our imaginations—not only for its mission to unlock the potential of our high streets and its commitment to affordable housing and community empowerment, but also for how precisely it identifies the barriers that local people and initiatives face when trying to engage with our planning and financial systems.”
The entry beat two other shortlisted teams, Ash Sakula with Human Nature, with their proposal 1 House, 2 Homes… make a neighbourhood, and FLOC, MAZI, Hyem, Stef Leach, Broaden, Thurston Illustration, SHED, Artis, Henna Asikainen with their entry Positive Disturbance - Realising Brownfield Potential.
The People’s Choice Award was handed to F.U.N.N.E.L by A is for Architecture, WSP and Spacehub after receiving 70% of online votes. The team proposed densifying existing suburban neighbourhoods in Melksham using standardised designs and financial incentives for the current residents.
Attendees at the ceremony, which took place in Heatherwick Studios’ London base Making House in King’s Cross, were also shown a pre-recorded speech by practice founder Thomas Heatherwick.
Heatherwick, who is currently curating the Seoul Architecture Biennale in South Korea, paid tribute to Alan Hayes Davidson, the architect and visualiser who is the inspiration for the annual award.
Heatherwick described Davidson, who died in 2018, as one of his mentors and said he had been a “joyful person” who had been “passionate about bringing people together”.
The three 2025 Davidson Prize finalists
Ash Sakula with Human Nature: 1 House, 2 Homes… make a neighbourhood
A new model that builds more homes on less land while enhancing the public realm, fostering active streets, and creating space for local economies and green infrastructure. On a test site at Seaham in County Durham, 1 House, 2 Homes doubles density without increasing footprint. By integrating seamlessly into existing streets it makes infill and large-scale urban regeneration faster, more viable and less carbon-intensive than car- dependent expansion. The innovative house typology ensures every home has its own front door and reduces per-home material use, operational carbon, and infrastructure strain while delivering high-quality, affordable homes at scale.
Clifton Emery Design, Nudge Community Builders, Millfields Trust, Plymouth Energy Community, Devon and Cornwall Planning Consultants: 300 Homes within a Union Street Mile
A model for the delivery of community homes in Union Street, Plymouth that can be applied to high streets across the UK. 300 Homes sensitively places a sequence of affordable rented homes with co-living features into the rich grain of an established urban high street, with multiple small interventions reinforcing the equilibrium of the whole community as well as local economies. Made off site and designed to a 600mm grid (from cabinet to room to home) the concept is replicable and energy efficient, providing imaginative communal spaces such as shared kitchens, workspaces and food growing areas alongside secure and comforting private home space.
FLOC, MAZI, Hyem, Stef Leach, Broaden, Thurston Illustration, SHED, Artis, Henna Asikainen: Positive Disturbance - Realising Brownfield Potential
Positive Disturbance is an adaptive framework for transforming brownfield sites into thriving places where homes, landscapes, communities and economies can grow together towards a reimagined future. On an ex- industrial test site at Clasper Village, Gateshead the project explores ways of redefining urban living as a dynamic, evolving ecosystem - rooted in place yet adaptable anywhere in the UK. As part of a living landscape, the lifetime neighbourhood of diverse tenures draws on positive ideas of degrowth to foster coexistence between humans, wildlife, and ecology while reimagining resources, movement, and sustainability.
Postscript
The Davidson Prize2025| Page2of4The 2025 FinalistsAsh Sakula with Human Nature1House,2Homes… make a neighbourhoodA new model that builds more homes on less land while enhancing the public realm, fostering active streets,and creating space for local economies and green infrastructure. On a test site at Seaham in County Durham,1House,2Homes doubles density without increasing footprint. By integrating seamlessly into existing streets itmakes infill and large-scale urban regeneration faster, more viable and less carbon-intensive than car-dependent expansion. Theinnovativehouse typology ensures every home has its own front door and reducesper-home materialuse, operational carbon, and infrastructure strain while delivering high-quality, affordablehomes at scale.in human-scale design, maxiClifton Emery Design, Nudge Community Builders, Millfields Trust, Plymouth Energy Community, Devon andCornwall Planning Consultants300 Homes within a Union Street MileA model for the delivery of community homes in Union Street, Plymouththat can beappliedto high streetsacross the UK. 300 Homes sensitively placesa sequence ofaffordable rented homes with co-livingfeaturesinto the rich grain of an established urban high street, withmultiplesmall interventions reinforcing theequilibrium of the whole communityas well aslocal economies. Made off site and designed to a 600mm grid(from cabinet to room to home) theconcept is replicable and energy efficient, providing imaginativecommunal spaces such as shared kitchens, workspacesand food growing areas alongside secure andcomforting private home space.FLOC, MAZi, Hyem, Stef Leach, Broaden, Thurston Illustration,SHED, Artis, Henna AsikainenPositive Disturbance–Realising Brownfield PotentialPositive Disturbance is an adaptive framework for transforming brownfield sites into thriving placeswherehomes, landscapes, communities andeconomiescangrow togethertowards areimaginedfuture.On an ex-industrial test site at Clasper Village, Gateshead the project exploresways of redefining urban living as adynamic, evolving ecosystem–rooted in place yet adaptable anywhere in the UK.As part ofaliving landscape,the lifetimeneighbourhoodof diverse tenuresdraws on positive ideas of degrowth tofoster coexistencebetween humans, wildlife, and ecology while reimagining resources, movement, and sustainability
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