Lion Green Road in Coulsdon, Croydon, designed by Mary Duggan Architects with Ruff Architects, has won the 2026 RIBA Stirling Prize. The council-commissioned scheme delivers 157 affordable flats across five pavilion-like towers on a steep, wooded site, despite an original brief for 80 homes. The development retains mature trees and bluebell woodland, provides a public route through the site with no perimeter fence, and preserves parking while opening views to allotments and the south London hills. The project began with a 2017 planning application that drew 18 letters of support and 257 objections, mainly over loss of parking, and completed after Croydon Council’s in-house developer Brick by Brick was wound up when the council went bankrupt in 2020. RIBA president Chris Williamson said Lion Green Road shows density can be achieved without compromising quality, and Mary Duggan praised Brick by Brick as a client that treated land as a public asset rather than a commodity.
