Shortlist announced: Greyhound Opening site, Norwich

The shortlist is announced for the competition to design a new mixed tenure, affordable housing development on the Greyhound Opening site in Norwich.

The Delivering Affordable Housing Partnership (DAHP) - a partnership of Norwich City Council, Broadland Housing & Orbit Housing Partnership, Circle Anglia Ltd, Flagship Housing Group and Lovell Partnerships Ltd - was astounded by the phenomenal response to the competition. 101 Expressions of Interest were received from architects based in the UK, Eire, Japan and the Netherlands.

The Jury Panel consisted of a former Greyhound Opening resident, together with representatives from the DAHP, the Housing Corporation and Clare Wright (Wright & Wright Architects) acting as the RIBA Architect Adviser. With such a strong field of applicants, Panel members faced an embarrassment of riches and arriving at a shortlist was an extremely difficult task. The Panel selected practices which they felt would be most capable of helping the DAHP to deliver an innovative high quality development, with an appropriate density of accommodation that can be built, will be financially viable within social housing constraints and have the potential to enrich the neighbouring community. The five short-listed practices (in alphabetical order) are as follows:
- Letts Wheeler Architects
- Maccreanor Lavington Architects
- Make Architects
- Riches Hawley Mikhail Architects
- Shedkm Architects

The short-listed practices will be invited to develop design proposals for the 1.2hectare Greyhound Opening site and present them to the Jury Panel at a final interview in late January 2009.