jmArchive | Moore Street Housing Award-winning housing, then and now

For jmarchitects, the project represented an important moment in the practice’s developing approach to affordable housing: architecture that considered not simply the number of homes being delivered, but the quality of the places, streets and shared spaces created around them.

The wider masterplan brought together a series of individual architectural responses (Richard Murphy Architects, Page&Park and Elder & Cannon) around a central pedestrian square and linked courtyards, with the retained archway of the former meat market providing a tangible connection to the site’s industrial past.

jmarchitects’ three blocks introduce a more varied arrangement within the wider masterplan. Along Gallowgate, dark cladding gives the frontage a strong urban presence, contrasting with the warmer timber finishes facing the courtyards. To the south, two blocks are arranged around a shared courtyard, while the northern block was commissioned directly by a group of local residents

Within this framework, the Moore Street housing received a RIBA Award in 2009, recognising the architectural quality of the project and its contribution to the wider regeneration of the area.

Almost two decades later, that commitment continues.

As the need for affordable homes continues to grow, Moore Street reminds us that meeting housing demand is not simply about delivering more units. It is about providing choice, maintaining design quality and creating places where people can build lasting connections with their neighbourhood.

At St Andrew’s Drive Phases 2 & 3, designed for Southside Housing Association, jmarchitects has helped transform the former deck-access housing in Pollokshields into 120 new social homes, structured around shared greens, landscape and sustainable drainage.

In 2026, St Andrew’s Drive received a RIAS Award and was shortlisted for the RIBA Neave Brown Award for Housing, one of the UK’s most significant recognitions for housing architecture.

The connection between Moore Street and St Andrew’s Drive is therefore about more than awards. Together, they demonstrate a sustained belief at jmarchitects that affordable and social housing should be approached with the same architectural ambition, care and commitment to place as any other form of housing.

From a RIBA Award in 2009 to a RIBA Neave Brown Award for Housing shortlist in 2026, the principle remains remarkably consistent:

Good housing is about more than numbers. It is about creating places that give people dignity, identity, belonging and homes designed to last.

Credit: Paul Smith, jmarchitects