Dezeen promotion: designers and architects are invited to submit their entries for housing provider Clarion Housing Group's annual William Sutton Prize, which this year will focus on sustainability and placemaking.

Clarion Housing Group's William Sutton Prize is looking for ground-breaking architectural concepts that use sustainable design principles, promote local biodiversity and create environments that foster residents' wellbeing.

Now in its fourth year, the awards celebrate William Sutton, a 19th-century philanthropist who Clarion Housing Group said "used his fortune to improve the quality of social housing".

"William Sutton's legacy was to transform lives and communities and it's been a real privilege to see our winners doing the same over the last few years," said Clare Miller, chief executive of Clarion Housing Group.

"Through the prize, we're committed to helping develop ideas to make a difference to communities."

The projects must address social and environmental issues such as energy efficiency and affordability, using recyclable materials, incorporating renewable or alternative energy resources, and helping to create "vibrant neighbourhoods".

The winner will receive £20,000 from Clarion Futures, the charitable foundation of Clarion Housing Group. The prize money will help turn the winning concept into reality and it will be trialled on one of Clarion's upcoming development sites.

The William Sutton Prize judging panel is led by Clare Miller, group chief executive of Clarion, and includes Jas Bhalla, founder of Jas Bhalla Architects; Alastair Mant, director of business transformation at the UK Green Building Council; Richard Cook, group development director at Clarion; and Matthew Morgan, director at Quality of Life Foundation.

"Promoting the value of good housing design is more important now than ever, as we look to meet the enormous challenges of climate resilience, affordability, and social isolation," said Jas Bhalla.

Bhalla won the prize in 2019 with a planning policy proposal intended to encourage the transformation of nine underutilised roads in outer London into streets for affordable housing.

In 2020, the workers' cooperative Ecomotive and housing developer SNUG Homes won the prize for their proposal for a construction and training hub in Bristol that intends to enable local people to coproduce eco-friendly, modular housing.

"Winning the William Sutton Prize has given us a massive boost – not only by raising the profile of our project but also through giving us the opportunity to collaborate with professionals from the Clarion team to scale up our plans and increase our social impact," said Anna Hope, director of training and consultancy at Ecomotive.

"We would encourage anyone with projects or ideas in the field of sustainable housing and placemaking to apply for this award, which is unique in its scope, vision, and the practical support available to help turn ideas into reality."

Applications close at midday on 6 October.

To find out more about The William Sutton Prize or to apply visit Clarion Housing Group's website.

Photographs are of the Ecomotive and SNUG Homes Scheme by Tony Gilbert unless otherwise stated.

Partnership content

This article was written by Dezeen for Clarion Housing Group as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.