Barons Place wins London Lifestyle Award

The London Lifestyle Award went to the Peabody Trust's Barons Place housing scheme at the New Homes Awards 2005, announced last week at The Savoy.

The judges were looking for "the best design-led property or development that makes the most innovative use of space, energy conservation, materials and technology."

Barons Place is a three-storey experimental low-cost development off Webber Street for the NHS, Peabody Trust and Keep London Working – a key worker research and development project based at Peabody Trust.

The bright and bold rental scheme for NHS key workers was completed last year using off-site modular construction. It was built in a factory by offsite building specialists Spaceover before being assembled over one weekend, much to the astonishment of neighbours.

In the future, should the land be needed for another purpose, the block can easily be dismantled and reassembled elsewhere. Sources of low cost land for projects of this kind could include sites from employers, air space over car parks and buildings, or sites that are unused and temporarily available.

The apartments at Barons Place are for rent by NHS key workers and are priced to make it affordable for NHS key workers to live in London (about £85-125 per week). The flats are designed to be let by workers who only need them for a temporary period. The block of one- and two-bed flats uses creative and flexible design to make the most of the small space available, ideal for either individual tenants or sharers.

"Peabody Trust hopes that the example of Barons Place will make a significant contribution to meeting London's housing requirements in the future," said a spokeswoman for Peabody Trust.