The Prince’s Foundation Building a Legacy Awards

Scottish landowners who place a long-lasting legacy above short-term profit were commended at a ceremony in West London on Tuesday  the 31st of January as the built environment thought leader The Prince’s Foundation staged its inaugural Building A Legacy awards which was supported by Lycetts.

The ceremony at The Garrison Chapel, the charity’s events and exhibition space, saw two developments in the north of Scotland – Chapelton in Aberdeenshire and Tornagrain near Inverness – acclaimed as shining examples, respectively, of community-building and championing conservation, while architect Peter James was also honoured for his work.

The awards and their winners and runners-up were as follows:

⯀ The Community Award – for outstanding contribution to community activities – was won by Chapelton in Aberdeenshire, with Nansledan Community Orchard near the Cornish coastal town of Newquay a commendable second. A prospectus on Chapelton reads: “With tree-lined streets, open green spaces, local shops and neighbourhood squares, Chapelton offers attractive rural living […and…] the long-term vision of the Elsick Development Company is to create sustainable town with community at heart of every element of its design.”

⯀  The Key Role Award – for an outstanding contribution to delivering the project – was claimed by Peter James, with fellow unsung hero Rob Illingworth runner-up.

⯀  The Landowner Award – for guiding and delivering the conservation area of tomorrow – was won by Tornagrain, with Blenheim Estates and Whitehill and Bordon announced as runners-up. The Earl of Moray collected the top prize for the development described by Moray Estates as “an enduring and sustainable town, which builds on the architectural and planning traditions of Scotland and the Highlands”.

“The mission of The Prince’s Foundation’s Building A Legacy initiative is to increase the number of landowners following the Legacy principles of development in building beautiful, mixed-use, mixed-income, walkable places for future generations,” explains Ben Bolgar, executive director (projects) for The Prince’s Foundation. “We do this through research, education, championing, networking and practicing the Legacy principles on the ground.

“Our charity’s founder HRH The Prince Charles, Prince of Wales kindly agreed two years ago to support an annual Building A Legacy awards scheme to recognise those people leading the field in legacy development. Congratulations to all the winners and nominees”

John Moray, Earl of Moray and one of the driving forces behind the Tornagrain development, said: “The award means a huge amount. It’s not for just me but for Andrew Howard, Nicole Petrie and my wife Cathy and all the team who have put a brilliant lot into it. It’s great to see all that attention coming to fruition in this recognition,” explained. “If you are given an opportunity to create a new community, you just have to do the best you can – that’s the approach we’ve always had. Our motto is always ‘Will this create a nicer place to live?’

“The idea was first floated with Highland Council in 2002 and we finally got consent in 2013, then the first infrastructure went in in 2015 before the first family – the Hewitts – moved in in 2017. Now, there are around 600 residents and a very vibrant community that it’s a pleasure to see growing, developing and finding its feet.”

Lady Caroline Fife, director of the Elsick Development Company behind the Chapelton development, said:: “This is the first big award we have won, and I’m thrilled it has come our way. Following on from Poundbury and everything that was done there so beautifully, we wanted to commit to that kind of work. The biggest plus for all of us is the community aspect, and everyone says good design brings many benefits. Seeing the community come together and organising in the way they have.

“I take my hat off to all those brave people who bought a house five years ago in the middle of a ploughed field in the middle of nowhere and had the faith. I think with that faith comes some lovely strong personalities who made the founding community for others to follow on.”

Building A Legacy was created by The Prince’s Foundation’s senior architects, designers and placemaking professionals after the charity’s founder HRH The Prince Charles, Prince of Wales challenged them to look into increasing the number of mixed-used and mixed-income communities. As a result, The Prince’s Foundation convened a wide range of development expertise and discovered the intentions of landowners and their advisers, and their ability to stay patient and build non-residential uses over time was key to building walkable communities.

Annual events then followed at Dumfries House and Blenheim Palace in 2018 and 2019 and an online event was held in 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions. Further publications were launched; Housing Britain – A Call to Action, The Value of Community, Walkability and Mixed-Use. The initiative had a major influence on the Government’s Building Better Building Beautiful Commission and formed the basis of the Stewardship Initiative, which was set out in the Commission’s Living with Beauty Report in 2020. In 2021 The Archbishop of Canterbury launched the Church of England’s housing report, Coming Home, in which there was a specific reference and commitment to following the Stewardship Kitemark as set out on the Stewardship Initiative’s website.

⯀ To read The Prince’s Foundation’s 2018 prospectus Building A Legacy, click here. Building a Legacy: A Landowner’s Guide to Popular Development sets out a model of development aimed at creating social and economic value over the long term and is accompanied by 14 principles that have evolved from those set out originally in the Vision of Britain.