The Power of Social Housing

Merchant Land were pleased to attend the ‘Power of Social Housing’ webinar which was part of the London Festival of Architecture (LFA) digital 2020 last month.

The discussion was based around the delivery and design of new social housing across the country, the power of design to create homes where people can thrive as well as shifting attitudes towards social housing across the country. Martyn Evans (Brick by Brick) chaired the discussion between three leading architects who have recently worked on or are working on social housing schemes; Annalie Riches (Mikhail Riches), Sarah Wigglesworth (Sarah Wigglesworth Architects) and Chloe Phelps (Brick by Brick).

Annalie Riches shared the RIBA Stirling Prize winning scheme, Goldsmith Street, for Norwich Council. The council’s desire to push environmental credentials of the scheme has led to great benefits and the scheme being recognised as the largest Passivhaus scheme in the UK with all flats and houses on target to achieve full Passivhaus certification. This is a voluntary standard for energy efficiency in a building, which reduces the building’s ecological footprint.

Merchant Land welcomed the opportunity to listen to the fantastic panel and find out more about how the architects have managed to deliver award-winning high-quality schemes by keeping things simple and cost effective. The webinar was recorded with all the presentations and questions, and can be viewed here.