Commercial Way wins 2024 AJ Award for Housing Project (£10-40 million)
The AJ Architecture Awards recognise excellence in UK architecture across a range of sectors.
Commercial Way was one of 23 winners announced at a ceremony on 3 Dec, with all winners drawn from a 120-plus shortlist. The 54 expert judges included Eleanor Fawcett of Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation, Biba Dow of Dow Jones Architects, Simon Sturgis and Daisy Froud.
The Housing Project (£10-40 million) was described by the AJ as a 'hotly contested category'. The judges described the winner, Commercial Way, as ‘particularly compelling’. They were also persuaded by the enthusiasm of a tenant who loves living there.
The tenure-blind residential development in Peckham for Southwark Council provides 109 homes for social rent and shared ownership. Responding to local needs, the unit mix is a flexible range of one to four-bed homes. Previous regeneration on the North Peckham Estate had left two vacant sites divided by a busy road. Temporary buildings had been cleared from the sites, apart from two brick water towers, which had become local landmarks. The challenge was to deliver new homes into the existing estate while improving the surrounding public realm.
Our key design move was to change the alignment of the road bisecting the two sites, thus unlocking the full potential of the site. New homes have been arranged across four blocks, with two taller buildings forming a gateway and framing a new public space. Perimeter blocks to either side wrap around new landscaped courtyard gardens, creating a safe space for children to play, as well as integrating and celebrating the retained and repaired water towers.
The main façade overlooking the park has brick piers and horizontal precast concrete elements, enclosing a series of generously-proportioned decks and balconies for the upper-floor flats and external space for ground-level units – deemed by the jury ‘a nice play between boundaries’. This ‘architectural screen’ also acts as a buffer to traffic noise. Elsewhere, a palette of pale brick, powder-coated steel railings and granite pavers unites the development with the existing estate. ‘There’s a feeling of lightness,’ said the judges, who also praised the ‘good material choices’ and attention to detail.
‘A challenging context, which the practice has dealt with well,’ they concluded.
