Croydon architect wins competition

By Davina Hyde

An architect has won a design competition with his scheme to encourage people to live above rows of shops.

Jas Bhalla’s practice beat five other local architecture firms to win the competition to develop a scheme in Croydon council’s next Small Sites programme due to start this autumn.

Five out of the six practices are based in South London.

Jas Bhalla’s Architects won the “Housing for a Better World” design competition on the strength of their “Parade Living” concept, which seeks to improve the quality of housing above shops by providing alternative types of housing that “can be generous, flexible and commercially viable”.

The homes are designed to lower carbon, maintaining high quality and improving viability.

Brick by Brick partnered with the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust to find practices with ethnically diverse workforces to ensure homes were designed and built by people who were more representative of the wider population in Croydon and London, to reflect the diversity of neighbourhoods in which they work.

Jas Bhalla, Principle, Jas Bhalla Architects, said: “We are really excited to have been selected by Brick by Brick, especially given the rich ideas and extremely high standard of presentations given by all the finalists.”

Pictured top: Jas Bhalla