RIBA select architects through to next round of Letchworth ideas contest

RIBA have revealed the shortlisted teams through to the next stage of the Re-Imagining the Garden City competition, run on behalf of Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation in partnership with the Town and Country Planning Association, Homes England, Anglian/Affinity Water, Building Research Establishment and the University of Hertfordshire. The ideas contest sought master plans for the proposed residential development of a 45 hectare site to the north of Letchworth, which will be the first expansion of the Garden City in a generation. The competition was open to international teams, with inter-disciplinary collaboration encouraged.

Following appraisal of the anonymous submissions, the leaders of the shortlisted teams were announced as follows:
• EcoResponsive Environments
• CF Møller Architects UK Ltd 
• Stride Treglown
• Sarah Wigglesworth Architects with Roundfield (landscape design) 

Founded in 1903, Letchworth Garden City was the brainchild of social reformer Ebenezer Howard, whose vision to improve conditions by combining the best aspects town and country living led to a vibrant international garden city movement. Howard’s principles, set out in his 1898 publication, ‘To–Morrow a Peaceful Path to Real Reform’, sought a social, community and economic model, where value is captured from land and reinvested back into the local community. This included detailed funding and expenditure projections, community governance and stewardship. Today, the need for new homes means that there will be an expansion of the urban area of Letchworth for the first time since the 1980s. 

Design concepts generated by the winning team will inform the overall masterplan and subsequent build on an approximately 110-acre case study site. The location is included in the North Herts Local Plan for housing, which is due to be adopted in 2019, and includes proposals for 900 new homes on this land, together with a new primary school, local community facility and retail space. 

Lucy Nordberg
TenderStream Head of Research

This competition was first published by TenderStream on 18.10.2018 here

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