Mary Duggan's Lion Green Road council homes win 2026 Stirling Prize
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Mary Duggan's Lion Green Road, 157 council homes in Croydon, won the RIBA Stirling Prize on October 15, 2026, on her studio's first shortlisting.
What Happened
Lion Green Road, a 157-home council housing scheme in Coulsdon, south London, designed by architect Mary Duggan's practice, won the 2026 RIBA Stirling Prize, Britain's best-known award for a new building. The winner was announced on Thursday, October 15, 2026, at a ceremony at Old Billingsgate in London. The project, delivered with RUFF Architects for Croydon Council, was the outsider among six shortlisted buildings and was the first of Duggan's projects ever to reach the shortlist.
Key Facts
- Winner: Lion Green Road in Coulsdon, in the London Borough of Croydon, by Mary Duggan Architects with RUFF Architects as delivery architect.
- Announced: October 15, 2026, at Old Billingsgate, London, in the prize's 30th anniversary year.
- Odds: bookmakers rated it the least likely of the six shortlisted schemes to win, at 6/1.
- Scale: 157 homes in five 13-sided blocks, built on a former car park on a site whose level changes by about eight metres.
- Tenure: roughly half the homes are affordable social rent and half private rent, according to reports on the scheme.
- Build: commissioned through Brick by Brick, Croydon Council's former housing company, and built by CField Construction under a contract of about 34 million pounds.
- History: it is only the fourth housing project to win the prize in its 30 years.
Why It Matters
For Shakti readers, the story is about a woman reaching the top of a profession where the most visible names have mostly been men. Mary Duggan graduated from the Bartlett School of Architecture in 1997, co-founded the firm Duggan Morris Architects in 2004, and set up her own practice under her name in 2017. Less than a decade later, her studio has won the award that many architects spend their careers chasing, on its first appearance on the shortlist. Reaction within the architecture press described the result as an inspiring moment for female leadership, as well as a win for the building itself.
Her path also shows how a leader's choices shape the work. Duggan has spoken of the win in terms of what it could do for the wider profession: she said she never expected it to happen to her, called the moment "absolutely incredible", and said she hoped it would push architects and clients to give more weight to social value and to buildings that last. That focus is visible in the project. It is not a museum, an office tower or a luxury home, but council housing, with about half the flats let at social rents.
The judges praised the scheme's approach to high-density housing. The Royal Institute of British Architects' president, Chris Williamson, said the building showed that high density can be reached without lowering the quality of the places people live in. That message matters well beyond Britain. Indian cities face the same pressure to house more people on less land, and the question of whether dense, affordable housing can also be well designed applies there too.
| Detail | Lion Green Road |
|---|---|
| Homes | 157 in five blocks |
| Client | Croydon Council, via its former company Brick by Brick |
| Architects | Mary Duggan Architects with RUFF Architects |
| Contractor and value | CField Construction, about 34 million pounds |
| Prize | RIBA Stirling Prize 2026, announced October 15, 2026 |
Impact
Short-term: The prize brings national attention and new work to Mary Duggan's practice, and puts a woman-led studio at the centre of Britain's architecture conversation in the award's anniversary year. It also gives Croydon Council, which commissioned the homes, a high-profile example of its own housing to point to.
Long-term: Winning with a council housing scheme strengthens the case that public housing can be built to the highest design standards. For women in architecture, a visible win by a founder who set up her own firm less than ten years ago offers a clear example of how leadership in the profession can be built.
Who is affected: Residents of the 157 homes; Croydon Council and other councils planning new homes; architects, especially women who run or hope to start their own practices; and city planners, including in India, weighing how to deliver dense, affordable housing.
Key Takeaway
Mary Duggan's council housing scheme Lion Green Road, a 6/1 outsider, won the 2026 RIBA Stirling Prize on October 15, 2026, on her studio's first shortlisting.
Questions and Answers
What is Lion Green Road and why is it in the news?
Lion Green Road is a 157-home council housing scheme in Coulsdon, in the London Borough of Croydon. It won the 2026 RIBA Stirling Prize, Britain's leading award for a new building, on October 15, 2026.
Who designed Lion Green Road?
It was designed by Mary Duggan Architects, the practice architect Mary Duggan founded in 2017, with RUFF Architects acting as delivery architect. It was the first time one of her projects had been shortlisted for the prize.
Why is the win seen as significant for women in architecture?
A practice founded and led by a woman won the profession's best-known British award on its first shortlisting, and as the outsider among six finalists. Reaction in the architecture world described it as an inspiring moment for female leadership.
How often has housing won the Stirling Prize?
Rarely. Lion Green Road is only the fourth housing project to win the prize in its 30-year history.
Disclaimer: Prepared by the Peepals newsroom from publicly available sources with AI assistance. Information is accurate to the best of our knowledge at the time of publication and may change. Images may be representative. Not professional advice. Report an error via our contact page.
Sourced and fact-checked by the Peepals Global Editorial Team
Reported, fact-checked and published by the Peepals Global Editorial Team.
