Since 1988 The Kingston Society Townscape Awards has served as an essential component of the Society’s mission to maintain and elevate excellence in the development of the townscape of our beautiful part of London. And our part of London is, of course, always developing. This year, 2023, the Society pays homage to Neil Philpott And Tony Leitch recognising their pivotal work as past  Chairmen of the Kingston Society.

The Committee and independent Jurors reviewed 32 nominations submitted by the public and Kingston Society members. Each nomination was considered against some or all of these measures: Overall Design and Aesthetics, Landscaping and Public Spaces, Historic Preservation, Community Impact, Sustainability and Innovation – and also against the time window constraint imposed by competition rules. You might notice we have combined Landscape and Ecology categories in to one single

Category - Greenscape this is because we found that there was considerable overlap between the nominations.

PLEASE NOTE - All nominations and Winners are displayed at the Kingston Museum community corner. The Museum is open to the public Thursday to Saturday 10.00 - 17.00. And you can see the display until the 28th October

On 15th November, our next public meeting, we will staging the Awards Evening. This is an opportunity to meet speakers from the community for the very popular Peopple's Choice vote, the jurors, the architects and the developers. The Awards will be presented by te Deputy Mayor. Do come along, it promises to be most interesting. This will be our final public meeting of 2023 -  ALL WELCOME.

299 EWELL ROAD, TOLWORTH, KT6 7AB

For the Jurors, this was an example of the restoration of an historical building that has great importance in its locality. The St. Matthew’s Parish Schools building is one of the only historic buildings in the Tolworth area, designed by the eminent architect who designed St. Matthew’s Church – Charles Lock Luck. These school buildings have pride of place in their street-scape but have had unsympathetic prior owners and have been under threat of demolition twice since 2010. It is a triumph for our townscape that the buildings have been preserved from this fate and restored in a 2018 development.

The Jurors admired the manner in which the fabric of the original Charles Luck Parish School building had been restored as originally built, keeping the fine elevation facing Ewell Road. They had praise also for the preservation of the later, 1901, addition to the schools, along Broomfield Road, with slight, but very sympathetic changes to the window lines. Steve Hall has managed to increase the space available devoted to the building’s original purpose – a school – and also create 9 apartments in the original building, behind that beautifully preserved front.

• Developer: Danebridge Investments and Developments LLP
• Architect: Brian Smith
• Project started (buildings purchased): 2018

STIRLING WALK, SURBITON KT5 9HY

This is a wild green community space, located along Tolworth Brook just where it enters the Hogsmill River, in Berrylands. What struck the Jurors first of all was the success with which this Reserve has become a much-loved part of the local community, through the brilliant efforts of a dedicated group of Friends in looking after the natural heritage, in bringing in enthusiastic volunteers and in supporting the community around the Reserve. These efforts have created an admirable complement to the townscape of Berrylands and have ensured the preservation of a range of different types of habitat: broadleaf woodland, oak trees, ponds, and grassland.

For the Jurors, the development of the Berryl­­ands Nature Reserve provides an example to the rest of Kingston of the imaginative way that a local team can ensure that landscape and ecology is addressed in a manner that not only enhances people’s appreciation of nature, but also enhances our townscape, with activities ranging from maintaining paths to coppicing indigenous hazel trees.

• Friends of Berrylands Nature Reserve formed Sept 2018
• Project ongoing; For more information visit: berrylandsnaturereserve.org