South London homes win 2026 Stirling Prize
Lion Green Road in Coulsdon has won the 2026 Stirling Prize for Mary Duggan Architects with RUFF Architects.
Dezeen reported on 16 October 2026 that this year's winner had been announced the previous night. That timing matches 15 October 2026, the date the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in London had set for the announcement.
The Stirling Prize is RIBA's yearly award for new architecture in the United Kingdom. It is organised by RIBA. This year it went to housing, not a museum or office tower.
The winning site is in Coulsdon, London, as listed by the Architects' Journal. RIBA described it in its winner notice on 15 October as a South London housing scheme. That is 157 homes.
The project has five buildings with 157 dwellings, according to RIBA. RIBA calls it a residential, landscape-led housing scheme. In plain terms, that means homes planned around shared outdoor space.
The credits split two ways. Mary Duggan Architects, based in London, was the design architect. RUFF Architects, also based in London, was the delivery architect. The first led the design. The second took that design through to construction.
The 2026 ceremony had been scheduled for Old Billingsgate in London, a large events venue by the Thames. The announcement date of 15 October had been trailed in advance, including in an Architects' Journal preview on 14 October.
What makes this stand out for a general reader is simple. Architecture prizes often go to big public buildings. Here the winner is a place where people live, cook dinner and put out the bins.
