Peabody will become founding headline sponsor of the Open City Stewardship Awards, the only British prize to celebrate long-term sustainable urban development practices, and support a public programme to run from early January 2022.
Recently, Open City announced a shortlist for the 2022 Stewardship Awards which includes examples of best practice at all scales, ranging from community gardens in Brent and Dalston, a community-led housing development in Lewisham, the management of historic campuses like Covent Garden market and LSE’s University Quarter, and a contemporary large-scale development in King’s Cross. Through the Stewardship Awards, Open City is working to champion citymaking based on ongoing acts of maintenance and care, which it believes is the most important but least celebrated aspect of urban development. The winners in each of the five categories will be announced in Spring 2022.
Peabody draws on nearly 160 years of history and expertise championing social housing in London. Since 2014, we've been involved in the development of Thamesmead New Town, where we have also entered a new chapter as stewards of a landscape including 240 hectares of blue and green space which includes five lakes, seven kilometres of canal and 53,000 trees. In 2020, we set out our strategic approach to managing these outdoor spaces through our Living in the Landscape framework.
Dr Phil Askew, Director of Landscape and Placemaking at Peabody, said: “We’re delighted to be working with Open City as a founding sponsor of the Open City Stewardship Awards as we believe stewardship and sharing best practice is key to unlocking the potential of parks and waterways across the UK to meet the challenges of climate change and habitat loss, and to provide healthy living environments.”
John Lewis, Executive Director for Thamesmead at Peabody, said: “We’re passionate about working with people and communities to help maintain and enhance neighbourhoods across London and beyond. For me, co-design is at the heart of what makes great places, and our long-term stewardship model and whole place approach in Thamesmead is already bringing tangible improvements for people in the town. We’re thinking about the future, but are also listening and learning about what is needed here and now. The awards are a great opportunity to celebrate best practice and share ideas, promoting excellence in sustainable urban development.”
Rhea Martin, chair of the Open City Stewardship Awards, said: “When it comes to long-term stewardship of the built environment, there are few organisations with as illustrious a history as Peabody, which was founded on social principles in the Victorian era and remains the long-term manager of many historic buildings across the capital. We look forward to bringing this experience to the judging panel, and to exploring changing attitudes to urban development, environmental stewardship, and social care through the story of Thamesmead as part of the upcoming public programme.”
Peabody joins Construction Declares and Public Practice in supporting the Open City Stewardship Awards. The partnership also supports the launch of a series of public events exploring stewardship as a model of practice that is relevant at all scales in answer to ecological and societal issues, which will be announced in early 2022.
