2016 Saltire Society Housing Design Awards Winners Anounced

The winners of the 2016 Saltire Society Housing Design Awards and the recipient of the Saltire International Travel Bursary were announced at a special ceremony in Edinburgh on 30th June 2016, attended by the Minister for Housing, Kevin Stewart.

Now in their 79th year, the Saltire Society Housing Design Awards celebrate excellence and achievement in Scottish house building and place-making and are part of a busy programme of special events and awards planned to celebrate the Saltire Society’s 80th anniversary year.

Those at the awards were lucky to hear a lively discussion between this year’s guest chair, Kirsty Wark, and former chairs Malcolm Fraser and Toby Paterson about Scottish housing design through the years.

Mr Stewart recognised winners across Scotland in four different categories, each receiving a Saltire plaque:

Blakeburn Cottage, the remodelling of a farm building in the Borders. Joint winner in the Alterations, Renovation and Extensions category, this project also won the coveted Saltire Medal and an accompanying £1,500 prize. 

Muckle Roe Chapel on Muckle Roe Island, Shetland also won an award in the Alterations, Renovation and Extensions category.

Tigh Na Croit, a new build project in Ross-shire. Winner of the Single Dwelling New Build category.

Glasgow’s Commenwealth Games Athletes Village. Winner of the Landscape in Housing category.

Hab Lab, a project that explores how the ‘Performance gap’ found within new and existing housing stock can be eliminated. Winner of the Innovation in Housing category and accompanying £1,500 prize.

Edinburgh University student  Michael Mallinder-Macleod scooped the Saltire International Travel Bursary, created in partnership with the British Council Scotland, for a submission titled ‘Housing an ageing population: How are our neighbours doing it?’ Michael Mallinder-MacLeod will now travel to Denmark and the Netherlands to interview architects involved in designing new models for elderly living and meet with residents to discuss their ideas for better housing. He will then publish a report with ideas and recommendations for Scotland’s elderly housing sector.

Receiving commendations from the judges were two projects in Edinburgh; Sunken Extension, a complex extension to a Grade B listed Georgian house, in the Alterations, Renovation and Extension category, and Tudsbery Court, a new housing development in Craigmillar, in the Landscape in Housing category. Receiving a commendation in the Innovation in Housing category was an innovative wheelchair accessible holiday cottage in Fife, called The Rings, and commended in the Multiple Housing category, where no outright winner was chosen, was the significant redevelopment and regeneration of the Sighthill area in Glasgow.

Housing Minister Kevin Stewart MSP said at the ceremony:

“In this, the 80th year of the Saltire Society, these Awards continue to set a benchmark for excellence in the design of individual housing and in the creation of great places.

“Highlighting exemplary practice in housing, the Saltire Society’s Awards promote projects that showcase the importance of design in delivering good quality across all tenures and house types.”