Croydon Council Housing Scheme Lion Green Road Wins 2026 RIBA Stirling Prize

Lion Green Road, a social and private housing development in Coulsdon, south London, has won the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Stirling Prize for 2026, the organisation's award for the best new building in the UK. The winner was announced at a ceremony at Old Billingsgate in London on 15 October 2026.

The scheme was designed by Mary Duggan Architects together with RUFFARCHITECTS and was commissioned by Croydon Council, originally through the council's now-dissolved development company Brick By Brick. It comprises 157 homes, a mix of socially rented and privately owned units, built across five residential blocks on the site of a former car park.

What the building replaces and how it was designed

The site had an eight-metre change in ground level. Rather than levelling the plot, the architects used the slope to position and rotate five faceted, multi-sided blocks, each up to seven storeys tall, to maximise daylight, views and dual-aspect layouts in the homes. According to ArchDaily, the development is designed to house around 635 people and includes sightlines toward a surviving section of the Surrey Iron Railway, described as the world's first fully independent public railway.

The blocks use three tones of brown brick intended to tie the buildings to the surrounding greenery. The landscape includes winding paths connecting the street to parkland, children's play areas, a sensory trail and residents' allotments, according to ArchDaily and Dezeen.

What the jury said

The RIBA jury said the project addressed the national need for new housing and had created an inclusive place for residents to connect with each other and with nature, according to Dezeen's report on the jury citation.

Architects' Journal reported that Williamson also said the scheme showed density could be achieved without lowering the quality of the surroundings, and that the jury saw its landscape-led design as central to the decision.

A long shot among six finalists

Lion Green Road was selected from a six-building shortlist announced in July 2026. According to Architects' Journal, it opened as a 6/1 outsider with bookmaker William Hill and was ranked only third in an online reader poll before the ceremony.

The other shortlisted projects were A House at Fairmead in Epping Forest by Sergison Bates, BEAM by Bennetts Associates, Paddington Square by Renzo Piano Building Workshop with Adamson Associates, Pembroke, Mill Lane by Haworth Tompkins, and River Wing by Witherford Watson Mann Architects, the firm behind the previous year's winner.

Only the fourth housing scheme to win in 30 years

The RIBA Stirling Prize, now in its 30th year, has been awarded to a housing scheme only three times before: Accordia in Cambridge (2008), Goldsmith Street in Norwich (2019) and Appleby Blue Almshouse in London (2025), according to Dezeen. Lion Green Road is the fourth.