ARCHITECTS CHALLENGED TO DESIGN LIFETIME HOMES, LIFETIME NEIGHBOURHOODS

Sunnyside-up House

In addition to recognising design excellence in specific categories, The Mail on Sunday British Homes Awards provide an unrivalled opportunity for architectural practices to showcase their design vision for tomorrow's lifestyle home.

Sponsored by VELUX, Knauf Insulation, Mitsubishi Electric and Stannah in partnership with Communities and Local Government , BRE, Modern Built Environment - Knowledge Transfer Network (MBE KTN) and NHBC the Mail on Sunday British Homes Awards, with the support of BIDA and The Landscape Institute champion innovation and are pivotal in providing a catalyst for change in the way we design and build our new homes.

For 2009 the Awards were again considered within 12 Categories and, following the successful legacies of the Barratt Green House (Home for the Future 07) and The Avanti House with Crest Nicholson (Tomorrow’s Lifestyle Home 08) architects and interior designers were invited to participate in the annual design competition.

In his foreword to the CLG paper Lifetime Homes, Lifetime Neighbourhoods published in February 2008 the Prime Minister wrote:

“We don’t just need more homes, we need more quality homes. Homes that are designed and built to a high standard, and that respond to one of the biggest challenges of 21st century- the challenge of an ageing population”

The ageing society poses one of our greatest housing challenges-by 2026 older people will account for almost half of the increase in the total number of households, resulting in 2.4 million more older households than there are today.

To address this challenge the 2009 British Homes Awards in partnership with CLG, Help the Aged and Stannah, challenged architects and interior designers to rethink not only the construction and design of homes that comply with and surpass Lifetime Homes Standards, but also the way communities are created to allow ageing occupants to maintain a 21st Century lifestyle and the enjoyment of communal amenities.

This Lifetime Homes, Lifetime Neighbourhoods competition was promoted at Ecobuild and Futurebuild (March 03-05) and presented as a gallery exhibit at BRE Insite (June 01-04). The Kosi Architects’ design “Sunnyside-up” House received 12,000 Mail on Sunday reader votes and was acclaimed the winner at the Awards presentation in London and will be published in the 2010 edition of Design. The key to a better place.