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Saltire Society Housing Design Awards - Winners Announced
Author: Caroline Ednie
Alex Neil MSP - Scotland’s Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure and Capital Investment - has presented this year’s Saltire Society Housing Design Awards at a high profile ceremony held (on Wednesday 23 November) in Edinburgh.
Architects Elder and Cannon were celebrating after scooping two prizes for their ‘Botany Phase 1’ project in the Glasgow’s Maryhill, receiving the Large Scale Housing Development Award as well as the second-ever ‘Saltire Medal’, a special accolade chosen by 2011’s Guest Chair of Judges, Malcolm Fraser
Top honours in the Saltire Society’s new Scottish Government-backed ‘Innovation in Housing’ Award went to Rettie and Co. for their ‘Resonance’ funding model - a new approach to financing social and affordable housing schemes; areas the Saltire Society actively seeks to promote with the awards.
The awards panel found the Resonance model to be an ‘exceptionally innovative’ way of kick starting construction to provide affordable housing without the need for grant assistance.
The ceremony also saw Cameron Webster Architects awarded for ‘Craignish’; a new-build private dwelling at Lochgilphead, which has already received plaudits from elsewhere in the architectural community.
Several commendations were also presented, including recognition for the renovation/new-build of a house which hosted Boswell and Johnson on the remote Island of Coll; and for a project from Scotland’s first Housing Expo in Inverness by last year’s Saltire Medal winners - Rural Design.
After choosing to inaugurate the new Innovation in Housing award through the Saltire scheme earlier this year, Mr Neil MSP congratulated the successful entrants to the awards:
'Our backing for the Saltire Housing Awards recognises the significant role the Awards play in encouraging debate and raising aspirations for good design and the creation of successful, sustainable places. I am particularly proud to be also presenting the new Innovation in Housing Award this year as it encourages innovative thinking in procurement and construction as well as design'.
This year’s Saltire Medal recipient attracted particular praise from 2011 Guest Chair Malcolm Fraser:
‘Elder and Cannon’s housing in Maryhill shows that what’s at the heart of good building, is architecture. Placemaking and Urbanism are important concepts; and speaking to people, and the simple task of making a nice house for them, imperative. But this project shows that what draws all together is the art and the craft of architecture. This is building that is both strong and humane, its robustness at the service of those who live there’.
The full Saltire Society Housing Design Awards results for 2011 are:
Awarded:
Large Scale Housing Development (In association with CIH)
Botany Phase 1, Maryhill, Glasgow - Elder and Cannon Architects © Andrew Lee
Private Dwelling - New Build
Craignish, Lochgilphead - Cameron Webster Architects
Innovation in Housing Award
The Resonance Funding Model – Rettie and Co, Springfield Property, Dunedin-Canmore Housing Association
Commended:
Large Scale Housing Development
Pearce Street, Govan, Glasgow - Austin-Smith:Lord
Small Scale Housing Development (In association with SFHA)
Kingcase Housing, Observer Court, Prestwick - ARPL Architects
Alterations, Renovations and Extensions
Bath Street Window, Edinburgh - Konishi Gaffney Architects
White House, Isle of Coll, Argyll - WT Architecture © Andrew Lee
Private Dwelling - New Build
The Secret Garden, Milton of Leys Inverness - Rural Design
Innovation in Housing Award
ANABO – Andrew Stoane Architects
The Saltire awards have been in existence since 1937, and are supported by The Scottish Government; Architecture and Design Scotland; The Chartered Institute of Housing; The Scottish Federation of Housing Associations, Homes for Scotland, The Chartered Institute of Builders. 2011 is the Society’s 75th anniversary.
Main image: Craignish, Lochgilphead - Cameron Webster Architects