Prestigious win for Croydon’s developer Brick by Brick

The development company set up by Croydon Council to deliver around 2,000 homes in the borough by 2022 has scooped a national prize for best masterplan at the Architects’ Journal Awards.

Brick by Brick (BxB) won at Tuesday’s 2018 AJ Architecture Awards ceremony for its masterplan on developing small sites across the borough for much-needed new homes. The sites tend to be old garage sites, car parks, vacant buildings or infill sites on estates, and BxB was named the winner over seven other finalists for the way it created a single masterplan covering multiple sites.

The jury said: “This is a ground-breaking approach. The programme has created a strategy for maximising leftover spaces in the borough and making sure these were developed using an innovative model, which was at the same time ambitious for quality and equitable for the citizens of Croydon. Rather than development being done to the borough, the borough is driving its own development.”

Since being set up by the council in 2016, Brick by Brick has received planning consent for over 40 sites so far, providing 1,036 new homes. 498 of these (48%) are designated affordable. Of this 48%, half will be genuinely affordable rent (maximum 65% of the private market rate), and the rest shared ownership.

BxB’s first developments, at sites off Beulah Hill and Auckland Rise in Upper Norwood, will be completed early in the New Year. These first units are a selection of one-, two- and three-bedroom flats and houses designed by award-winning architects HTA.

Colm Lacey, CEO of Brick by Brick, said: “We are absolutely delighted to win this prestigious award. We have worked closely with local residents and a variety of award-winning architects to put together to plan and deliver the highest quality housing for Croydon residents.”

 

“We set up Brick by Brick to deliver well-designed, high-quality schemes to provide more homes for local people, so it’s great that their smaller sites masterplan has impressed the judges at these national awards.

“From creating Brick by Brick to buying over 150 properties for rent so families move out of temporary accommodation, the council will continue to develop new and affordable housing initiatives that help more and more Croydon people get their own home.”

Councillor Alison Butler, deputy leader and cabinet member for homes and Gateway services

2018-12-06T14:10:36+00:00 December 6th, 2018|Recent news|