Awards, patronage and design preference: an analysis of English awards for housing design

This paper analyses the nature of English design awards for housing and considers the relationship between their differing characteristics and forms of patronage or participation in them. The results are based on research into six awards running in England and interviews with developers, architects, planners and, where appropriate, social housing providers and residents involved with 13 award-winning schemes. The findings report on the different characteristics of the awards and then move on to consider how involvement in the awards is regarded by the interviewees. The conclusions highlight how some awards are oriented to professional and public sector design agendas, while others are oriented to the interests of the development industry. Distinctions between ‘professional’ and ‘lay’ tastes are however less clearly evident, and the requirement to develop difficult brownfield sites as part of England's ‘Urban Renaissance’ is requiring more considered bespoke forms of development which are popular with consumers, architects, planners and certain developers. Finally, it is suggested that instead of seeking an unbiased and value-free process, that judgments about design quality, as expressed through awards, can only be understood relative to the competing vested interests and shifting professional discourses in which award programmes sit.