Davidson Prize longlist names 19 radical new proposals for 2025 theme 'Streets Ahead'

The longlist for this year’s Davidson Prize has been announced for the competition’s fifth edition, which is organized around the theme of 'Streets Ahead.'

This year’s brief asked designers to consider issues latent within the UK government’s five-year, 1.5 million new homes target. A mix of sites in different settings—from post-industrial Tyneside to the barren Isle of Wight—were considered by the select group of 16 multidisciplinary teams. In the end, their concepts preferred solutions that ranged from adding density to pursuing brownfield regeneration to high street infills and other "radical ideas" and "pattern-book approaches."

Akil Scafe-Smith, Director of Resolve Collective said: "This year's submissions creatively addressed a variety of contexts in response to The Davidson Prize's challenge. It was particularly moving to see the vision and feel the energy of the non-London and Northern England-based proposals and I'm excited to get into choosing the three finalists!"

At the next stage, Scafe-Smith and fellow jury members will select three shortlist finalists who each receive £5,000 ($6,500 USD) to further develop their design ideas and create two-minute visual media presentations with the help of visualizations studio Hayes Davidson. An overall winner of the £25,000 ($33,000 USD) prize is expected to be announced on June 10th as part of this year’s London Festival of Architecture. 

A IS FOR ARCHITECTURE, WSP, Spacehub – F.U.N.N.E.L

AOMD, Edit, Periscope, Dion Barrett, Ruth Lang – Hardworking Landscapes

Ash Sakula with Human Nature – 1 House, 2 Homes... make a neighbourhood

CARD Projects, PATCH Collective, and System of Systems – WearWork

Clifton Emery Design, Nudge Community Builders, Millfields Trust, Plymouth Energy Community, Devon and Cornwall Planning Consultants – 300 Homes within a Union Street Mile

daab Design Architects, HomeGrown Plus, Expedition Engineering, Robert Bird Group, Third Revolution Projects, Atelier Crescendo – Between the Lines – Living with Industry

Morris+Company, Hub, Stantec / Hydrock, Studio Knight Stokoe Permitted Development –  ‘Elephant in the City’ 

FLOC, MAZi, Hyem, Stef Leach, Broaden, Thurston Illustration, SHED, Artis, Henna Asikainen Positive Disturbance – Realising Brownfield Potential

Harper Perry, Urban Design Works and Studio Mint with North East Combined Authority and NEXUS – Tyne and Wear Metro Metroland

James Waddington with Nathaniel Welham and WSP – The Rail Belt

 RCKa Beta Boroughs – How Could Better Data Help Us Beat the Housing Crisis?

Studio Woodroffe Papa Ltd, Lawrence Barth, Almitra Roosevelt and Anagha Othalur of AA Housing and Urbanism, Whitby Wood, XCO2 – Kommuna Palace

The Place Bureau Forever Island – A New Model for Young Islanders

University of West England – Students Growing Places

William Burgess & Oliver Burgess – Living in the Landscape – A community for all ages

Yolande Barnes Consulting & Space Syntax – RUN!