An award for the best in housing in the UK is given by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, from the National Housebuilding Council, the RIBA and the Royal Town Planning Institute who each year choose the most interesting projects from around the country evaluating them on the basis of a series of criteria: sustainability, interior and exterior appearance, the relationship with the surroundings and the presence of garages and nearby parking spaces.

In 2002 the first prize has been given to a project for social housing, a shelter for rough sleepers in London, designed by Fielden Clegg Bradley.

Amongst the dozen or so other buildings to receive awards is a complex of 30 dwellings in the heart of London, Covent Garden, designed by Proctor Matthews which, despite the high density of living, manages to maintain at a high level the quantity of green space by exploiting as much as possible both private – balconies, terraces and roofs – and public space.