Great Kneighton, a sustainable new community spread over 109 hectares in Cambridge, has been named ‘Housing Project of The Year’ at this year’s Building Awards

These prestigious awards are famed for acknowledging the very best achievements from leading figures and companies across the housebuilding industry and recognises innovation and excellence. Judged by a panel of industry experts, the awards look for developments that illustrate excellence in a range of categories, including aesthetics, suitability and sustainability.

Attributing its success to the all-encompassing nature of the development, Great Kneighton includes 2,550 new homes, 49 hectares of public open space including a new country park, 3,050 sqm of retail space, two new schools, a community building with integrated library and health centre, sports pitches and play areas offering community and recreational facilities for all ages.

Futurecity provided an ambitious public art and placemaking programme for the development including sculpture, arts embedded in the architecture and public realm, play and fitness features, wildlife habitats, bridge designs, a community garden, and a 4-year community engagement programme leading up to the completion of the community centre.

The Projects

HABITORIALS: ‘A Showground of Real Living’ Great Kneighton’s 4-year creative community engagement led by Jeanne Van Heeswijk and Britt Jurgensen

PARALLEL DEVELOPMENT London Fieldworks three-stage wildlife project providing homes for the areas distinct biodiversity

BRONZE HOUSE Heather and Ivan Morison’s archaeology inspired Hobson’s Square and its focal point artwork, installed at the heart of Great Kneighton

EDIBLE CORRIDOR Nils Norman’s programme with designs for footbridges, wildlife hides, community garden infrastructure and fitness trails

ART & PLAY Simon & Tom Bloor’s interventions encourage informal play and interaction for all ages across 9 separate sites

PATTERNS OF DUST Sean Edwards's faded ‘Ghost Sign’ on the gable end of a housing that honours the tenant farmers who worked the farmland on which the new homes now stand.

Great Kneighton’s COMMUNITY GARDEN has been led by the public art programme with artist and gardener Lorelei Lodestar as ‘gardener-in-residence’ galvanising local community participation and building the gardens vision and partnerships with agencies and organisations across Cambridge.

The on-site secondary school Trumpington Community College has its own virtual cat CINDER living in their digital screens, co-created by pupils and Umbrellium to interact with educate future pupils about the buildings energy system and sustainability.

Testament to the bold, innovative and creative approach involved in realising the vision for this project, Great Kneighton has won multiple awards for placemaking and the striking architecture within each of its residential phases since the development began.

The latest phases, Abode and Aura, are designed by the award-winning architects Proctor & Matthews and TateHindle respectively. Both have received prestigious RIBA accolades, celebrated for thoughtfully-created homes and their contribution to the lively new community. Combining traditional design with a modern aesthetic, homes are set along landscaped lanes to create a variety of new green open spaces for local residents.