# Winners of Clarion Housing Group’s William Sutton Prize announced

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2021/03/28/winners-of-clarion-housing-groups-william-sutton-prize-announced/
- Published: 2021-03-28T17:47:00+01:00
- Author: Howard Lake

**Two projects that offer a novel service to benefit social housing residents and
communities have been announced as the winners of the 2020 William Sutton Prize.**

The winners were announced at a virtual ceremony on 25 March.

## William Sutton Prize for Placemaking and Affordable Housing Design

The winner of The William Sutton Prize for Placemaking and Affordable Housing Design
is Ecomotive and SNUG Homes’ proposal for a construction and training hub in Bristol
that will enable residents to co-produce eco-friendly, modular housing in response
to local needs. The project will also provide apprenticeship, volunteering and employment
opportunities, as well as self-build training and support for community-led housing
initiatives.

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> Last night we announced the winners of this year’s [#WilliamSuttonPrize](https://twitter.com/hashtag/WilliamSuttonPrize?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
> at a virtual event celebrating innovation and social good. Check out this short
> film to find out more about [@Eco_motive](https://twitter.com/Eco_motive?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
> and [@SNUGHomesBuild](https://twitter.com/SnugHomesBuild?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)’
> s prize-winning project [#UKHousing](https://twitter.com/hashtag/UKHousing?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
> [pic.twitter.com/BWvhh8d918](https://t.co/BWvhh8d918)
> — Clarion Housing Group (@Clarion_Group) [March 26, 2021](https://twitter.com/Clarion_Group/status/1375384408337879041?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

## The William Sutton Prize for Social Innovation

![](https://wfay6x.infiniteuploads.cloud/2021/08/hackney-school-of-food-building-
photo-jim-stephenson.jpg)

Hackney School of Food by Surman Weston. Copyright Jim Stephenson 2020

The Hackney School of Food, which opened in 2020, is a collaboration between charity
Chefs in Schools, the LEAP Federation – made up of three state primary schools in
Hackney – and architect Surman Weston that transformed an old building and area 
of disused land into a food education hub.

The hub helps primary school children benefit from food education and the local 
community receive [free](http://staging.fundraising.co.uk/tag/free/) cooking classes,
enabling children and adults to learn to grow fruit and vegetables, tend beehives,
cook over fire and turn produce into meals. 

The prize fund will be used to share the model with other schools to create nurturing
environments for children to engage with food and growing.  

Tom Walker, Head Food Educator at The Hackney School of Food, said: “Winning The
William Sutton Prize is such an exciting moment for us as a team. The prize fund
will make a huge difference to our plans, helping us to share our hugely successful
model with other schools to enable more children and communities to benefit. We 
know that seeing where your food comes from and learning about healthy eating and
cooking sets children up for life and we’re looking forward to working with Clarion
to grow our concept further.”

> Congratulations again to [@chefsinschools](https://twitter.com/ChefsinSchools?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
> and the team behind The [#HackneySchoolofFood](https://twitter.com/hashtag/HackneySchoolofFood?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
> who won The [#WilliamSuttonPrize](https://twitter.com/hashtag/WilliamSuttonPrize?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
> for Social Innovation. We spoke to [@TomtheFoodChamp](https://twitter.com/Tomthefoodchamp?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw),
> the school’s Head Food Educator, to find out more about the project. [pic.twitter.com/9fUDNYC0CI](https://t.co/9fUDNYC0CI)
> — Clarion Housing Group (@Clarion_Group) [March 26, 2021](https://twitter.com/Clarion_Group/status/1375397994862931969?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

## Highly commended

The projects were selected from 154 applications, the most received to date in the
three years of the prize. Not surprisingly, many of the finalists’ proposals were
responding directly to the [coronavirus](http://staging.fundraising.co.uk/tag/coronavirus/)
pandemic.  

Enable Ability was highly commended in the Social Innovation prize category. Its
proposal is for a new service that helps people with anxiety access health, social
care and education services through the use of immersive [technology](http://staging.fundraising.co.uk/tag/technology/),
including virtual tours, walk through videos and virtual reality. During the pandemic,
the service has been developed and delivered by young autistic and disabled people,
building in lived experience, and the **£5,000 prize fund** will help roll out the
service and develop it further.

The seven-strong shortlist also included projects by The Social [Change](http://staging.fundraising.co.uk/tag/change/)
Nest, a business that has been supporting people-powered networks and grassroots
groups since [2013](http://staging.fundraising.co.uk/tag/2013/), and The Parenting
Apart Programme CIC, a specialist service supporting parents and children through
conflict, separation and divorce.

Highly commended for the Placemaking and Affordable Housing Design category was 
a proposal by Editional Studio to create a ‘Roving Retrofit Workshop’ that will 
work with housing associations and residents to retrofit and upgrade their homes.
The **£5,000 prize fund** will help develop the concept further, enabling residents
to reduce their carbon consumption and energy bills through hands-on workshops and
go on to train and qualify as green retrofit contractors.

## The William Sutton Prize

![The William Sutton Prize 2020 - announcement graphic](https://wfay6x.infiniteuploads.
cloud/2021/08/william-sutton-prize-2020.jpeg)

[The William Sutton Prize](http://www.clarionhg.com/william-sutton-prize) was developed
by Clarion Housing Group to celebrate the legacy of its founder, William Sutton,
as a 19th century innovator and philanthropist who bequeathed his fortune to improve
the quality of social housing.

Clarion Housing Group is a social business, reinvesting its profits into building
new homes and providing support and opportunities to residents through Clarion Futures,
its charitable foundation. The prize [funding](http://staging.fundraising.co.uk/tag/funding/)
is provided by Clarion Futures.

The winning entries were determined by a panel led by Clare Miller, Group Chief 
Executive of Clarion, and including Peter Holbrook CBE, CEO of [Social Enterprise](http://staging.fundraising.co.uk/tag/social-enterprise/)
UK.

Clare Miller, Chief Executive of Clarion Housing Group, commented: “Giving children
space and time to learn about food is a great way to sow the seeds of lifelong healthy
eating habits, so we’re delighted that we’ll be working with the team behind The
Hackney School of Food to enable more children to benefit from their innovative 
model. It’s been inspiring reviewing our record-breaking number of applications 
and, as always, my fellow judges and I had a very difficult job choosing our winners.
I’m excited to see how they take their innovative ideas to the next level with our
support.”  

Peter Holbrook CBE, CEO of Social Enterprise UK, added:“Initiatives like the Hackney
School of Food are vital in building stronger, more sustainable communities and 
have a huge role to play in reducing the inequalities of health, wealth and opportunities
the pandemic revealed. Congratulations to all the organisations who made the shortlist,
I look forward to seeing them grow, develop and increase their [impact](http://staging.fundraising.co.uk/tag/impact/).”

## Entries for 2021 William Sutton Prize

> If you have an idea you think could win The [#WilliamSuttonPrize](https://twitter.com/hashtag/WilliamSuttonPrize?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw),
> you can register your interest and we’ll be in touch once applications open for
> the fourth year – simply email wi****************@*******hg.com [#UKHousing](https://twitter.com/hashtag/UKHousing?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
> [#socent](https://twitter.com/hashtag/socent?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) [pic.twitter.com/GoAbyH389H](https://t.co/GoAbyH389H)
> — Clarion Housing Group (@Clarion_Group) [March 26, 2021](https://twitter.com/Clarion_Group/status/1375480687915061252?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

 * **[Applications open for Clarion House Group’s William Sutton Prize](https://fundraising.co.uk/?p=305523)(
   9 August 2021) **

 * **[£4 million fund launched to support community led affordable housing](https://fundraising.co.uk/2021/08/25/4-million-fund-launched-to-support-community-led-affordable-housing/)**(
   25 August 2021)
 * **[Leeds Building Society offers £150,000 in funding for its anniversary](https://fundraising.co.uk/2025/04/15/leeds-building-society-offers-150000-in-funding-for-its-anniversary/)**(
   15 April 2025)
 * **[Clarion Futures launches new grant programme](https://fundraising.co.uk/2025/05/27/clarion-futures-launches-new-grant-programme/)**(
   27 May 2025)
