Harrison Stringfellow Architects was named first prize winner, for our ‘Liverpool School of Building’ concept, which combined training in green skills for individuals with a sensitive redevelopment, to improve social, economic, and environmental sustainability. 

Judge Isabel Allen, Editor of Architecture Today, commented that the design tackles “the tricky issue of how to address historic residential stock when the land value is too low to absorb the costs associated with refurbishment”, and noted the way in which the project combines an enjoyment of the historic façade through repurposing the ground floor bay window as the main entrance with a strategy of using MMC to create modern well-insulated homes.”

The competition looked for innovative redesign or refurbishment solutions for a row of 11 terraced dwellings, in Wavertree, Liverpool that tackled  Net Zero and Lifetime Home residential redevelopment.

Current land value will never meet the cost of refurbishment, however, over 26% of property stock in the UK is terraced housing in various conditions. There is no carbon budget to ignore this fact. This proposal tackles the challenge of bringing back into use those properties in an uninhabitable condition.

Located to complement neighbouring amenities such as the corner shop and childrens centre, Garrick School of Building will provide an open source training hub to upskill, support, learn and share knowledge to meet the demand for green skills in the Liverpool City Region and support individuals undertaking fabric upgrades to their homes.

For the remaining properties, the main structure, thermal envelope and building systems will be completed quickly and efficiently to minimise build time and disruption. Investing in areas that have seen mass displacement through demolition, by retaining the existing character but inserting high quality, controlled building fabric, will reduce fuel poverty and support community cohesion.

Labour intensive, yet carbon efficient jobs, such as repurposing waste material can be completed by individuals over time without affecting well-being. In this case, to create high quality biodiverse external spaces.

Combining the efficiencies of modern methods of construction with individual enthusiasm for tackling climate challenge and the willingness to DIY to reduce costs, will benefit social, economic and environmental sustainability.

Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, Steve Rotheram said,

“We challenged some of the most creative and forward-thinking minds in architecture to design a more sustainable way of living in a modern, 21st century city region like ours – and the results have been incredible! As a former brickie, I know how complex a project like this can be and I take my hat off to all the entrants for the innovative designs and solutions they’ve come up with. 

The winning design had sustainability at its heart – and that’s going to be vital if we’re serious about hitting our ambitious target to reach net zero by 2040 – at least a decade before national government targets. 

Currently, nearly a third of all our region’s carbon emissions come from domestic properties and, despite the millions we’re investing into my robust retrofitting programme, we know there’s still a lot more work to do to make all our homes cheaper and easier to heat – without heating the planet too.

Innovative solutions like this one will not only have a massive part to play in helping us to keep our domestic emissions down – but in protecting and enhancing our area’s precious architectural heritage for future generations as well.”