Small in scale, significant in impact

The Architects’ Journal Small Projects Award returns for its 31st year, continuing to champion inventive architecture delivered within modest budgets. Open to schemes with a contract value of £399,000 and under, the award shines a light on projects where careful thinking, resourceful design and genuine commitment create results that reach far beyond their scale. 

2026 shortlist

More than 170 entries, 20 projects shortlisted, and one overall winner announced at the AJ Small Projects 2026 ceremony, held at the University of Liverpool School of Architecture’s new extension by O’Donnell + Tuomey.

Taking place outside London for the first time in the awards’ history, the 2026 event brought together 300 attendees to celebrate inventive, low-budget architecture that delivers meaningful impact across homes, studios, public spaces, community buildings and heritage projects.

For 15 years, Marley has been proud to sponsor AJ Small Projects, recognising and celebrating innovation in low-cost, high-impact architecture. The awards continue to provide a fantastic platform to inspire architects to think creatively, resourcefully and sustainably, proving that small-scale projects can make a big difference within a wide variety of communities.

The Award Winner 2026

This year’s overall winner, Castlands Road by Bricolage, is a self-build family home in Catford, south-east London.

Conceived as a ‘terraced house in waiting’, the project was designed as a thoughtful response to the challenges of creating an affordable family home in London. Built on a plot with the potential for future neighbouring homes, the house combines a simple pitched-roof form with a climate-resilient timber canopy, referencing the surrounding streetscape while allowing for future growth.

The project takes a low-budget and low-carbon approach to construction, using reclaimed bricks from site leftovers and salvaged stock, clay blocks for the external walls, and exposed British larch joists and rafters internally. Much of the joinery, lining and furniture was tested and made by hand, reflecting the resourceful spirit at the heart of AJ Small Projects.

Judges praised the scheme for addressing wider questions around the national housing crisis, describing it as a blueprint for how a family could afford a home in London while creating a framework for future development.

AJ Small Projects Sustainability webinar

Watch the AJ Small Projects Sustainability webinar, chaired by AJ sustainability editor Hattie Hartman, where the panel discuss the importance of environmental and social sustainability in the success of projects on smaller budgets.

Including the 2022 Sustainability Prize-winner, Darren Bray of Studio BAD, talking about the studio’s St Margaret’s Church community hub project and Summer Islam and Daria Moatazed-Keivani of non-for-profit organisation Material Cultures, who talked about their use of experimental materials on Block House in Somerset, which was also shortlisted for the award.