A Glasgow City Council development, Niddrie Road, has been nominated for an Architects Journal (AJ) Award.

The AJ Architecture Awards is one of the most prestigious in the industry calendar and highlights some of the very best projects in the UK across 17 categories, from housing, health and wellbeing to workplace and cultural projects.

Already an award winner, the development is nominated in the 'Housing' category which focuses on new build, significantly refurbished or extended housing projects.

107 Niddrie Road is a close of eight small flats over four floors, just to the north of Queens Park in the southside of Glasgow, that has been retrofitted to an enhanced standard of build. The project was led on behalf of Glasgow City Council (with support from the Scottish Government) who sought a pilot initiative to understand the parameters associated with retrofitting tenemental properties, of which there are 75,000 across the city region, as a means of lowering carbon emissions and tackling fuel poverty.


The building has been designed to the EnerPHit standard, a retrofit version of the better-known 'Passivhaus' standard used on new buildings, and, as a result of various measures that included fabric enhancement and a mix of low carbon and renewable heating technologies, the 120 flats will now deliver an 80-90% reduction in heating costs for tenants of Southside Housing Association.

A remarkable development, the awards will take place in November later this year. We extend our support to John Gilbert Architects, who will be vying for the win, and the best of luck to all those nominated.