Lion Green Road housing complex in a London suburb wins the 2026 Stirling Prize

The key facts

The 2026 RIBA Stirling Prize has been awarded to the Lion Green Road housing complex in Coulsdon
157 homes in five 13-sided blocks, a mix of affordable and private housing for Croydon Council
The project was built on the site of a former car park on a slope with an eight-metre level difference

Suburban project named best building of the year

The Lion Green Road housing complex in Coulsdon, south London, has won the 2026 Stirling Prize — the most prestigious architecture award in the UK, presented by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). The project comprises 157 homes in five 13-sided blocks and combines affordable and private housing, commissioned by Croydon Council. It was developed by Mary Duggan Architects together with RUFF Architects.

A difficult site and integration into the landscape

The complex was built on the site of a former car park on a difficult sloping site, where the level difference reaches eight metres (26 feet). RIBA President Chris Williamson called the project 'a new approach to high-density development', creating 'a new connection between the busy Lion Green Road and the distinctive green park behind it'. According to him, the blocks 'merge with the park, and small variations in the pattern give each building its own identity', and the complex 'does not look like a large housing estate'. The jury noted 'an inventive and site-specific response to a heavily constrained site'. The buildings of soft purple-pink brick are set among trees on the edge of the green belt: to the south the site faces low-rise green belt development, to the north — traditional suburban streets.

The architects' concept

Mary Duggan, who grew up in south-west London, called the win 'extraordinary, unexpected and humbling in a good way', and said the project began in 2016 with the idea of creating 'truly non-institutional housing' and looking afresh at what affordable housing can give to communities. She described Lion Green Road as 'a project about a culture of living', where architectural ambition, social value and social realities can coexist. According to her, the scheme 'challenges traditional road-oriented suburban layouts with private gardens and clearly separated front and back spaces': winding paths and planting connect the blocks and shared open spaces, and residents have access to green areas and allotments.

The jury chair's personal motivation

Williamson told the BBC that before training as an architect he himself lived in a council housing estate in the East Midlands, where the council homes were sold off into private hands and not replaced with new ones. 'Every time I go back, I think: where would we live now?' he said, adding that many people from such backgrounds live in temporary insecure housing, while the homes at Lion Green Road are 'fantastic' and are part of a mixed scheme. He described the judging process as 'inspiring and emotional'.

Funding and the context of the prize

The project was funded by Croydon Council as a public asset. According to the BBC, changes to building regulations meant developers had to 'grapple with five or six circumstantial factors beyond the usual difficulties'. The prize is awarded at a time when housing projects are often judged on cost and the number of homes; Lion Green Road was recognised for its response to its surroundings. Design intent, innovation, sustainability, functionality and the ability to delight users are all assessed.

Other finalists

The shortlist also included: a house at Fairmead, High Beach, Epping Forest (Sergison Bates); BEAM in Hertfordshire (Bennetts Associates); Paddington Square (Renzo Piano Building Workshop, Paris, with Adamson Associates, London); Pembroke, Mill Lane (Haworth Tompkins); and the River Wing of Clare College, Cambridge (Witherford Watson Mann Architects).