Concepts as diverse as building homes over public buildings, prefabricated floating houses and a wooden shell housing typology have emerged as some of the top 10 ideas in the New London Architecture (NLA) international competition to try and solve London’s housing shortage.

Garnering over 200 submissions from over 20 countries, the 10 finalists have presented a broad array of innovative and thought-provoking concepts. The ideas will be presented to the Greater London Authority who will then research their feasibility as options for London’s future housing market. 

Peter Murray, chairman of the NLA, comments, “The way we are delivering new homes today just isn’t working. London is only able to build half the number it needs each year. This competition shows how a bit of creativity, entrepreneurship and new thinking can help to fill that gap.”

The winning 10 concepts, along with the other 90 schemes that were shortlisted as part of the competition, will form the core of the New Ideas for Housing exhibition, supported by a showcase of the most innovative housing schemes already underway, and a new video display on the NLA’s interactive model of London. The exhibition runs at the NLA gallery in London from 15 October to 17 December.

See below for a full list of winners, and the slideshow above for images of all 10 concepts.

Housing Over Public Assets

Bill Price of WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff

By building apartments over public buildings such as hospitals, libraries and schools, 630,000 new homes in London could be created whilst simultaneously improving public facilities, argues Bill Price. 

The Urban Darning Project
Patrick J.A. Massey of CZWG

This project aims to encourage small residential developments in central London to ‘fill-in the gaps’ of the urban fabric. Planners and architects will work collaboratively to identify sites and produce schematic drawings, essentially providing each site with a pre-approved planning application to speed up the development process.

Supurbia
HTA Design LLP

A twofold approach: redeveloping main streets as mixed-used places with increased housing, and allowing owner-occupiers of semi-detached homes to develop their land, creating more diverse housing.

Intimate Infrastructures
Natasha Reid Design

The design looks at a ‘missing typology’ of purpose-built shared housing that focuses on mixed-tenure and placemaking, as well as considering the needs of local communities vulnerable to displacement.

Buoyant Starts
Floating Homes Ltd with Baca Architects

High-quality, prefabricated floating homes situated within the 50 linear miles of rivers and canals that make up the waterways of the Greater London area. ‘Generation Rent’ becomes ‘Generation Float’.

Investing in London’s Future by Learning from its Past
David Kroll

The idea is to separate the cost of housing from the cost of land, drawing from the leasehold system from London’s past.

Mega Planning, Beyond 2050 – MegaPlan for a MegaCity
GL Hearn part of Capita Ltd

Looks to maximise potential land supply across ‘Edge Land’ - the inner belt running from the inner London Green Belt to the M25. 

ATAL Opportunity Areas
THE ATAL TEAM

Unlocking housing density in parts of London with poor public transport provision by improving accessibility, which will allow for a doubling of development density in over half of London.

Making More With Less: Unlocking Leftover Land for Generation Rent
Pitman Tozer, LB Enfield and Naked House

The concept proposes to unlock the vast array of under-used, small council-owned sites across London to build affordable homes.

Wood Blocks
dRMM Architects

A new shell and core housing typology is used to build homes, drawing on the growing appetite for self-build as a more affordable typology.

For more information on the competition, exhibition and winning projects, see the NLA website.