The Don't Move, Improve! 2023 award highlights the best projects across the city.
15 of London's best home renovations, championed in the annual Don't Move, Improve! architecture award 2023, serve plenty of inspiration for anyone considering their own home improvements.
Now in its 12th year, the award is run by New London Architecture, showcasing the diversity and character of the properties being redesigned in London.
The homes in the shortlist embraced the 'Green Ambitions' theme, with a focus on improving the sustainable credentials of the city's homes. There's also a nod to the importance of our spaces supporting our wellbeing, with an emphasis on promoting better access to surrounding nature, more daylight, mood-enhancing colours and maximising space for compact living.
From the shortlist of 15, there are eight winners, whose projects particularly impressed the judges. See the results below.
Take a look at the shortlisted and winning projects in more detail...
Location: Southwark
Designed by: Nic Howett Architect
Award: Home of the Year 2023
Built by the homeowner and his partner, the aim of this project was to extend the home on a budget to provide more space for their family. Located behind a shop in a Victorian terrace on Camberwell Road, this small flat has been transformed with a new bedroom and a garden studio that allows them to both work from home whilst sheltered by surrounding trees. It's self-built, with a palette of simple, modest materials that they could craft with their own hands.
Location: Southwark
Designed by: District. Architects
Award: Under £100k Prize
Colour blocking is used to define each area of this wrap around extension and renovation. Described by the homeowner as 'practical', 'beautiful' and a 'joyful place to live', its modern touches and bold colour palette make this a home that will grow with the family.
Location: Haringey
Designed by: Architecture for London
Award: Environmental Leadership Prize
An Edwardian terrace in Muswell Hill has been extended and refurbished to create a comfortable, low energy house. A rear extension and a loft conversion, with installation, triple-glazing and improved airtightness, have helped to reduce this property's energy requirements. It's a fine example of what can be done to improve an ordinary terrace house on a small budget, both in regards to low energy features and aesthetics.
Location: Southwark
Designed by: A Small Studio
Award: Urban Oasis Prize
This modernist house sits in a small oasis of protected woodland within the Dulwich Estate, a conservation area in south London. The family were in need of a fourth bedroom but unable to build upwards due to restrictions on the land. To ensure there was as little ecological impact as possible, the studio relocated the kitchen to the rear of the house, opening it up to the woods while ensuring there was minimal distribution to the wildlife in the garden, including foxes, squirrels, birds, and bats. This allowed the studio to then add a fourth bedroom and ensuite to what was previously the kitchen area towards the front of the property.
Location: Tower Hamlets
Designed by: Studio naama
Award: Compact Design of the Year Prize
Located in Berthold Lubetkin’s Grade II listed Sivill House, this apartment's renovation introduced bicycle storage, a training area, a study, a second bedroom and a casual eating space. Celebrating the identity of the building, areas were stripped back to reveal original concrete beams, and bespoke metalwork was created to add warmth and colour, with panels used to open up the living room and bedroom space and to allow light to flow throughout the apartment.
Location: Waltham Forest
Designed by: Unknown Works
Award: Unique Character Prize
A bright and bold sustainable new home, designed for a young family, uses pre fabricated, cross-laminated timber (CLT) construction. It boasts a warm, natural finished timber on the inside, and a bright sunshine-yellow exterior, adding a pop of colour to the mid-century terrace.
Location: Camden
Designed by: Trewhela Williams
Award: Transformations Prize
This project is a garage conversion and ground floor refurbishment of a courtyard house on a cobbled mews within the Belsize Park Conservation Area. The minimalist design creates a calm, contemplative interior, whilst the tonal and textural elements bring a sense of oneness to the space. What was once an unused garage is now a dual-aspect open-plan kitchen with a dining area and small snug, spanning the depth of the property from street to courtyard.
Location: Southwark
Designed by: R2 Studio Architects
Award: Materiality and Craftsmanship Prize
This renovation channels contemporary living through an artist’s lens, inspired by the owner’s enthusiasm for early 20th century expressionist art group, Die Brücke. The rebuilt rear wing created a first floor wellness zone, with a private roof terrace, sauna and outdoor shower.
Location: Camden
Designed by: Cooke Fawcett Ltd
Drawing on the traditional elements of a Russian ‘Banya’, this renovation features a sauna, bucket shower, plunge pool and a garden studio. The feeling of being embedded in the woodland was central to the design, as it sits on a sloping site surrounded by mature trees.
Location: Waltham Forest
Designed by: Mike Tuck Studio Ltd
This Victorian terraced house has been transformed into a light-filled, breathable space, shaped by natural materials. What was once a pebble dashed, damp home has been renovated with a thermal upgrade, featuring solid blocks of external cork insulation and natural materials that allow the once damp walls to breathe.
How three derelict barns became a colourful family home full of clever design ideas
Before & After: Inside a tiny attic bathroom
The colour palette that made this once-white apartment feel like home
Before & After: This tiny basement bathroom is a lesson in getting dark spaces right
