Those shortlisted for the competition were Kimia Benan with Paul Treacy, and Tom Cookson with Sarah Carroll.
The extraordinary ideas and designs set the judges an enormous challenge to choose a winner, but ultimately the submissions from Eco Responsive offered a glimpse of the possibilities for The Heath. SOG’s next steps, said John Lewis MBE and managing director and owner of SOG, are to now embark on a feasibility study for the Heath Park programme, and the outcome from the RIBA competition will be a key factor in this process.
RIBA Competition Architect Adviser Hugh Broughton, and Director of Hugh Broughton Architects, said the competition for the redevelopment of The Heath asked architects to consider how people will live, work and play in the future and how places may be developed to be both environmentally and financially sustainable. All three finalists came up with brilliant schemes which were presented; Eco Responsive’s proposals were selected as winners because they provided a wonderful framework for the future of The Heath which weaves ideas for landscape, water management, food production and work with concepts for inter-generational living which are both optimistic and realistic.