Chowdhury Walk named Britain’s best new homes at the 2025 Wood Awards

Chowdhury Walk is deliberately climate conscious from the ground up: stone columns minimise concrete use in the foundations, cross-laminated timber (CLT) forms the structure of the walls and solar panels line the roof.

Chowdhury Walk designed by Al-Jawad Pike. Photographs by Rory Gardiner

Timber-first, climate-friendly, and affordable, this housing project in East London – designed by Al-Jawad Pike with engineers Momentum – has been declared Great Britain’s best new homes at the 2025 Wood Awards.

Part of Hackney Council’s ongoing programme to develop small, underused sites to help tackle the housing crisis, the project transforms a plot once occupied by garages and informal parking into well-crafted homes that strengthen the fabric of the local community.

As an infill development of 11 houses – seven for social rent and four for private sale – Chowdhury Walk sits between two existing terraces and their gardens, offering a powerful demonstration of a new standard for terraced housing.

Each home is rotated slightly to create a more varied streetscape and provide residents with improved privacy. Red-brick cladding paired with timber structural elements – revealed at key points inside – shows how both materials can contribute to a warm, contemporary character.

Panelised CLT from Egoin, carefully assembled on site by Neilcott Construction, combined with triple-glazed windows and rooftop solar panels, has enabled the team to deliver affordable homes that are kind to both people and planet.

“Chowdhury Walk is a good model for social housing. It's a carefully thought-through scheme that has created a new street with elegant contemporary facades. The high level of design continues indoors, where the houses are well organised, providing generous light and living space with good-sized hallways and storage,” said Jim Greaves, lead judge of the Wood Awards and Principal at Hopkins Architects.

“The architects chose timber for the structure and have delivered a showcase for the use of CLT in high-quality social housing in London. The project sets a precedent for future sustainable, council-led schemes.”

The Wood Awards building judges – a team of world-leading professionals – visited all 20 shortlisted buildings before selecting the winners, making this one of the UK’s most rigorous awards processes for architecture.

You can find out more about the 2025 Wood Award winners by visiting www.woodawards.com.