The William Sutton Prize has provided an invaluable opportunity for us to push the boundaries of sustainable housing, working alongside Clarion Housing Group to turn our ideas into practical, deliverable solutions. This collaboration has gone beyond funding, allowing us to test, validate, and refine our proposals for low-carbon, affordable homes in real-world conditions.

Our research focuses on a new vernacular architecture, one that prioritises low embodied carbon while embracing the natural properties of sustainable materials. Using our in-house carbon calculator tool, we’ve demonstrated a potential ~70% reduction in embodied carbon compared to conventional construction.

But this isn’t just theory—since working with Clarion Housing Group and their development arm, Latimer, we’re putting our ideas into action. As part of a wider team with Haworth Tompkins and Jas Bhalla Works, we’ve been working on the detailed design component for the first phase of the Tendring Colchester Borders Garden Community. This work is based on our William Sutton Prize-winning research and should be delivered in a few years.

Our findings illustrate a clear path to delivering low embodied carbon homes, with design principles that are both sustainable and defined by the materials that shape them. The William Sutton Prize has given us the platform, partnerships, and momentum to turn these ideas into reality.

You can read more about our collaboration from Melissa Dowler, Director, in the following article and watch this space for the next chapter in the story: https://www.clarionhg.com/news-and-media/2025/03/31/more-than-just-funding