Appleby Blue Almshouse Wins RIBA Stirling Prize 2025

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• Appleby Blue Almshouse Wins RIBA Stirling Prize 2025

20 October 2025

A social housing complex for over-65s is the winner of the RIBA Stirling Prize 2025. 

Appleby Blue Almshouse isn’t just about providing shelter; it's about transforming living standards for older people. The project, by Witherford Watson Mann Architects, reinvents the traditional almshouse concept. Instead of isolation, it fosters community, with 59 spacious flats around a central garden.

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The almshouse is on the site of an abandoned care home in Bermondsey, London. It is run by United St Saviour’s Charity, with specialist staff on-site to assist residents to live independently.

A key theme of the project is community and isolation reduction, reflected in the layout. The flats are arranged in a U-shape around a central garden courtyard, and even the hallways have been optimised to promote social activity. Warm, terracotta-paved “social corridors” have planters and benches to encourage spontaneous interaction.

The views from inside the building have also been carefully considered, with large kitchen windows with views of the garden courtyard and floor-to-ceiling bay windows at street level.

Picture: a photograph showing the central courtyard garden and the surrounding apartments. Image Credit: Philip Vile

“Designing social housing for later life is too often reduced to a simple provision of service, said Ingrid Schroder, Director of The Architectural Association (AA) School of Architecture, speaking on behalf of the RIBA Stirling Prize Jury.

Appleby Blue, however, is a provision of pure delight. Its architects have crafted high-quality spaces that are generous and thoughtful, blending function and community to create environments that truly care for their residents. 

“This project is a clarion call for a new form of housing at a pivotal moment. Built against the backdrop of two crises, an acute housing shortage and a growing loneliness epidemic among older people, Appleby Blue offers a hopeful and imaginative response, where residents and the surrounding community are brought together through the transformative nature of the design.”

Picture: a photograph of the rooftop garden with several planters full of greenery. A person can be seen looking at the plants, holding a walking stick. Image Credit: Philip Vile

Article written by Ella Tansley | Published 20 October 2025

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