^{Last week, the 2025 RIBA Stirling Prize, the UK's highest architecture award, went to Appleby Blue Almshouse in Bermondsey, designed by Witherford Watson Mann for United St Saviour's Charity.}

On one level, it's simply what architecture should be: thoughtful, beautiful, and deeply purposeful. But it's also something more significant. It marks a shift in what the sector is recognising as worthy of celebration. A signal that social housing can be and should be aspirational.

The jury called it "a hopeful and imaginative response" to two defining challenges: housing shortage and the loneliness that increasingly characterises later life. But more than that, they recognised it as a model — a precedent for what becomes possible when design prioritises human connection alongside practical need.

The Loneliness Context and Why It Matters

The timing of this award reflects something important about where we are as a society.

Age UK research shows that 940,000 older people in the UK are often lonely, 7% of people aged 65 and over. By 2034, that figure is projected to reach 1.2 million. Of those older people who are often lonely, 9 in 10 are also unhappy or depressed, compared to 4 in 10 of those who are hardly ever lonely.

This isn't just a social problem. It's a public health issue. It's an infrastructure problem and crucially, it's a design problem.

For years, the housing sector has recognised that loneliness matters. But what Appleby Blue demonstrates is that loneliness can be designed out of buildings. Not through programmes or interventions, but through thoughtful architecture that makes connection natural.

What Makes Appleby Blue Work

The 57 one-bedroom flats are arranged around a central courtyard, carefully designed so that daily routines become social rituals. Every corridor is short and well-lit. Shared kitchens, gardens, and lounges sit along natural routes through the building.

Windows face both inwards and outwards, creating what architects call "eyes on the courtyard" spaces where people naturally gather and encounter each other, without feeling surveilled or controlled.

The rooftop terrace and central courtyard are filled with greenery,not decoration, but genuine gathering spaces that residents actually want to spend time in.

Architects visiting the completed scheme have reported emotional responses to the space. One described how "visiting Appleby Blue gave me goosebumps. There's such honesty in the materials and a quiet confidence in how it's made... The residents aren't just housed; they're living – supported, comfortable and with a real sense of pride in their home."

That's the shift this building represents: from housing as a service provision to housing as a foundation for living well.

The Design Principles That Work

Appleby Blue succeeds because it's built on a set of principles that more housing providers are starting to embrace:

Connection is deliberate. Communal space isn't an afterthought - it's designed with the same care as private units. Sight lines, lighting, and placement all encourage informal gathering.

Dignity is embedded. Every material choice, every proportion, every detail reflects respect for residents. There's nothing that says "this is cheaper housing" only careful, considered design.

Residents shape the outcome. The final scheme reflects input from existing residents of United St Saviour's almshouses. Their expertise, knowing what actually works in daily life was central to the design.

Beauty and functionality aren't opposed. The building works brilliantly as housing and looks beautiful. These aren't competing priorities; they're the same thing.

What This Signals for the Sector

The Stirling Prize recognition matters because it resets what "good" looks like. When the UK's top architecture award goes to social housing, it sends a message to the entire sector: this is what excellence means. This is what we should be aspiring to.

But it's not just about individual projects. Appleby Blue is part of a broader shift in how the sector is thinking about housing for later life.

Architects Witherford Watson Mann have now won the Stirling Prize twice — previously for Astley Castle in 2013 — putting them among only a handful of practices to achieve multiple wins, alongside Foster + Partners, RSHP, and Zaha Hadid Architects. That consistency matters. It shows this level of thinking can be sustained, can be repeated, can become normal.

More importantly, housing providers are increasingly recognising that:

• Older people deserve aspirational housing. Not institutional provision, but beautiful spaces that make people proud to live there.

• Connection is a core service. It's as important as heating, repairs, or maintenance. It's something housing design can actively support.

• Mission-led partnerships deliver better outcomes. When the client's goal is resident wellbeing rather than profit maximisation, different and better, design choices become possible.

• Residents are experts. The people who will actually live in buildings know what they need. Their input doesn't slow design down; it improves it.

The Bigger Picture

The housing sector faces extraordinary challenges: delivering more homes, meeting new regulations, managing aging stock. But increasingly, forward-thinking providers are recognising that these challenges can be opportunities.

Every social housing scheme is a chance to ask: what kind of life do we want residents to have? What would dignified, connected, beautiful housing look like? How can design actively support wellbeing?

Appleby Blue shows those aren't luxury questions. They're practical design questions that good architects and committed clients can answer.

Moving Forward

The jury called Appleby Blue "a clarion call for a new form of housing at a pivotal moment." it's more than a call, it's evidence that this approach works. It's a working example that housing providers, architects, and funders can point to and say: yes, this is possible. This is what we should be building.

The question now is how quickly the sector adopts these principles more widely. How many more schemes will prioritise connection and dignity alongside delivery? How many housing providers will see Appleby Blue and recognise it as a model for their own work?

That's where the real impact happens, not in one award-winning scheme, but in the principles and approaches spreading across the sector.

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