📢📢📢 Delighted to announce a double-win at last night’s @ribawestmids awards for Stolon Studio! 🎉🎉
The Parks won 2026 RIBA West Midlands Award and 2026 RIBA West Midlands Project Architect for Stolon Director, Robert Barker.
Well done to all of the winners and shortlisted entries.
Thanks to everyone involved in this fabulous project!
Stolon Team- Bradley, Bryony, Hanna, Imran, Jessica, Max, Pavan, and Robert
Engineers @structurehaus
Energy Engineers @efficient_energy_centre
Main contractor A&J Ralph
Client @house_of_tuesday 📸 by @frenchandtye #RIBAawards
Heritage retained. Ecology restored. Rural living reimagined 🌿🏡
We continue our @ribawestmids Awards 2026 spotlight with the shortlisted The Parks, Herefordshire by @stolonstudio .
Transforming a derelict dairy farm into eight low-carbon homes, The Parks demonstrates how heritage-led retrofit can deliver sustainable, community-focused rural regeneration.
A collection of historic timber-framed barns and agricultural buildings have been carefully adapted to retain their character while creating generous fossil-fuel-free homes designed for contemporary living. Existing openings frame views across the landscape, while the agricultural scale and volume of the original barns are celebrated throughout.
Landscape sits at the heart of the project, with shared orchards, meadows, raised beds and wildlife habitats collectively managed through a Community Land Asset model 🌾
Extensive material reuse, solar PVs, air-source heat pumps and ecological interventions contribute to verified A+ upfront and A++ whole-life embodied carbon ratings, alongside significant biodiversity gains.
At its core, The Parks demonstrates how adaptive reuse, ecological enhancement and community stewardship can work together to create resilient, future-focused rural development.
A Regional Award winner? The next Building of the Year? We’ll find out soon…
📍 Coventry University
📅 Thursday 14 May, 6pm
👀 We look forward to celebrating this year’s shortlisted projects and winners at the @riba West Midlands Awards 2026
📸: @frenchandtye , @katarenajoyphoto
#RIBA #RIBAWestMidlands #ArchitectureAwards #HeritageArchitecture #Retrofit #AdaptiveReuse #RuralRegeneration #SustainableArchitecture #LowCarbonDesign #Biodiversity #BuiltEnvironment
Something every Londoner should do… the low tide walk at Deptford Creekside! A glimpse of the Laban Centre 🌈 and an experience of 21st century mudlarking. Finds included: touchscreen smart phone, full operational umbrella, several lime bikes, a scooter and hundreds of vape containers. We sampled the river bed and amongst this found young eels, managing to survive! #cleanup #londonwildlife #creekside #londonlife
And here is an inviting peek into one of the interior spaces of the house in Guildford….! This beautiful timber stair rises from the chalk encased lower ground floor, through the timber entrance hall, and up to the master bedroom floor.
Wonderful work by main contractor @hale.uk #archilovers #timberstair #oneoffhouse
Sneak peek at one of our latest projects- very nearly completing….
A beautiful one-off home in Guildford for an amazing client. Working with the marvellous @hale.uk - it’s coming together nicely…. More photos to come #oneoff #archilovers #brickhouse
Having shared space becomes a joy in the spring sunshine. Seeing new shoots, fruit tree blossoms and feeling the warmth of the sun break through is good for everyone’s well-being.
Open-ended, free play or street play in a friendly environment makes for healthy children too. #forestmews #outdoorplay #streetplay #sociablespace
Solidity and lightness - brick and glazing covered in a lightweight veil of mesh for climbing plants, creates contrast, seasonal change, solar shading and habitat.
Spring is an awesome time to be out in the garden or connected with the garden, and when landscape and buildings become one - it’s almost magic….✨ Here at Forest Mews, the garden is a shared space and yet a quiet sanctuary from the city. #smallsite #urbanretreat #sociablehousing #forestmews
Spring has arrived! We adore how buildings transform with the seasons. At Forest Mews, the facade is adorned with climbing plants, making it a seasonal spectacle. From the first green shoots to the fragrant jasmine flowers, the summer shade, and the birds feasting on grapes, even a building can be a garden! #archilovers #backlandsite #londonmews photo by the brilliant @timcrockerphotographer project built by the fabulous @johnperkinsprojectsltd
What a day! The sun was certainly out shining in Herefordshire and for @ribawestmids judges visiting our community-led rural project, The Parks, as part of the 2026 RIBA Awards. A huge thank you to the residents who warmly welcomed the judges into their homes and shared their experiences of living in this unique place. An honour to be part of the awards, and wishing all shortlisted projects congratulations for achieving this recognition #ribaawards2026 #herefordshire #communityledhousing #ruralcommunity photo of The Winnows by fabulous @frenchandtye
As the soil warms, and shoots grow, we all look to spend more time outside of our homes. As architects, we love to work inside and out- creating designs for both the home and the garden.
Here at Fowlescombe Farm Estate, Devon, we designed a unique landscape - featuring a raised formal lawn, linear moat, and an award-winning glasshouse for some very pioneering clients. The estate's total restoration, completed some time ago, demonstrates their commitment to regenerative farming, biodiverse landscapes, survival of rare breeds, organic certification - clients who were way ahead of their time, complemented by the sensitive conversion of historic buildings and new architectural elements that reflect historical lay-lines. #fowlescombefarm #restorativefarming #organicfarm #devon #landscapedesign
The Parks - we are working towards phase 3 of the works, which will bring together landscape, innovative sustainable construction and rural materials. Converting agricultural buildings requires a sensitive and radical approach. #barnconversions #herefordshire #sustainableconstruction film-let by @frenchandtye
Delighted that our deep retrofit project, The Parks (phase 1) has been shortlisted for an @ribawestmids award. Being shortlisted is an achievement in itself, as all projects are judged against the @riba climate challenge criteria. Congratulations to everyone involved in this project! Photo by the amazing @frenchandtye #ribaclimatechallenge2030 #ribaawards #herefordshire #retrofit #sustainablecommunity
