Rethinking affordable, community-led charitable housing

Appleby Blue, United St Saviours Charity – RIBA Award Winner

Congratulations to Appleby Blue: A triumph for modern almshouses!

Appleby Blue has won the RIBA Stirling Prize, the UK’s most prestigious architectural accolade. The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), founded under a royal charter in 1837 and recognised internationally, champions design excellence and innovation. This award celebrates Appleby Blue’s success in combining stunning architecture, social purpose, and economic impact, setting a new benchmark for sustainable, transformative housing.

Almshouses are making a powerful comeback. For over a thousand years, they have blended design with altruism, creating homes that foster dignity, connection, and belonging. At their best, they are civic architecture at its finest, an exemplar model of community-led housing.

Momentum is growing. New almshouse charities, including one in Budleigh Salterton, Devon, show this historic model thriving today. More than just homes, they are in-perpetuity legacies, sustainable, community-led housing designed to serve generations.

Appleby Blue proves that architecture with social purpose can be beautiful, enduring, and transformative, demonstrating that almshouses are not just a link to the past, but a vital solution for the future.

Nick Phillips, CEO of The Almshouse Association, explores why almshouses are experiencing a modern revival…

“The remarkable news that one of our flagship almshouse member charities, United St Saviours Charities has won the internationally recognised RIBA Stirling Prize for their flagship almshouse Appleby Blue, has once again placed community-led charitable housing firmly in the spotlight.

You may wonder what persuaded the judges to honour Appleby Blue? We think the answer lies in a unique combination of history, innovation and social purpose.

Beneath the headlines is a thousand-year-old model of community-led charitable housing, seamlessly integrated with contemporary architecture to create spaces of tranquillity, security and connection. Appleby Blue did not emerge from a single idea but from centuries of the tried-and-tested almshouse model, guided by the courageous leadership of the CEO, planners, visionary architects and trustees.

Its almshouse design features, thoughtfully retained and reinterpreted for a modern city setting, have inspired architects and planners across the UK and as far afield as Japan.

What is the “magic” of Appleby Blue?

Is it the shared entrance, fostering neighbourly encounters? The communal benches and tranquil courtyard, alive with trees, water, and greenery? Or the vibrant community, where residents share recipes, art, sewing, and connections with the wider Southwark community?

As one resident recently said, “It’s paradise. I just love living here. I feel very lucky.”

Like many almshouse developments, it is difficult to pinpoint a single feature. The success lies in the holistic combination of architecture, social design, and community.

Standing on the shoulders of centuries of almshouses, Appleby Blue demonstrates that this model is the exemplar of community-led charitable housing, both architecturally and socially.

It is time for almshouses to be fully recognised for their contributions to society. Once in the shadows, they now shine, proving that architecture with social purpose can be beautiful, enduring and transformative. Appleby Blue is quite rightly in the headlines but for the last decade or so, new almshouses have been built round the country at a rate of many hundreds a year.

As charitable legacies, almshouses are gifts to both present and future generations. With new, often smaller almshouses being created, this enduring model continues to evolve, not as a link to the past, but as a vital, forward-looking solution to the housing challenges of our time.”

Further reading

posted 20 October 2025