The ICAA Announces Nansledan as the 2025 Recipient of the Gindroz Award for Excellence in Affordable Housing

The Institute of Classical Architecture & Art (ICAA) is proud to announce that Nansledan, a development in Newquay, Cornwall, England, is the distinguished recipient of the 2025 Gindroz Award for Excellence in Affordable Housing. Nansledan will be recognized at the Gindroz Symposium on Affordable Housing, hosted by the ICAA in New York on Saturday, November 8th, 2025.

The Gindroz Award recognizes excellence in the design and implementation of affordable housing in the classical tradition. The award panel considers the unique challenges of designing and building high-quality affordable housing, project contexts, community engagement, social impact, and commitment to building neighborhoods for all. The Gindroz Award panel included Eric Osth (Chair), Melissa DelVecchio, Rebecca Lefkowitz, Michael Mesko, Whitney McKnight, Lyn Muse, and David Rinehart.

Nansledan is a 540-acre extension to the city of Newquay, located on Cornwall’s north coast. Led and managed by the Duchy of Cornwall and inspired by HM King Charles III’s vision for English urban development, Nansledan is a sustainable mixed-use community comprising walkable neighborhoods with homes, shops, offices, schools, restaurants, and recreation. Nansledan was selected by the Gindroz Award panel for its deep commitment to providing affordable housing while placing people and environmental impact at the center of the design process.

The Gindroz Symposium on Affordable Housing will bring together past and present Gindroz Award recipients for a half-day symposium in New York City on the afternoon of Saturday, November 8th, 2025 at the ICAA’s national headquarters at 20 West 44th Street. Representatives from the King’s Foundation, the Duchy of Cornwall, and ADAM Architecture will discuss the development and implementation of Nansledan. Following, they will be joined by past Award recipients including the Housing Authority of the City of Santa Barbara and Union Studio on a panel to discuss the solutions that classical architecture and urbanism can provide.

Hugh Petter, a Design Director at ADAM Architecture and Master Planner for Nansledan, remarked “I, along with the whole Nansledan team, are thrilled that Nansledan has received the Gindroz Award for Excellence in Affordable Housing. This recognition celebrates both the vision of the Duchy of Cornwall as our client, and the collaboration and dedication of the whole project team. We are all deeply committed to creating integrated, sustainable places where it is possible to live a healthy, happy life, and that are beautiful and enduring. Nansledan demonstrates that strategic master planning, long-term stewardship, and an understanding of local needs and local identity can lead to vibrant, sustainable and popular communities reinforced by social and economic sustainability and low carbon lifestyles. We may hope that the endorsement of Nansledan through this award will help us all to encourage others to embrace these principles to help tackle some of the profound housing issues of our time that sadly challenge every nation.”

Sam Kirkness, Nansledan development manager at the Duchy of Cornwall, said “We are delighted and deeply honoured that Nansledan has been recognised with the Gindroz Award for Excellence in Affordable Housing. This award is a testament to the commitment and hard work of all those involved in creating a sustainable, mixed-use community that places people at its heart. We care deeply about delivering high-quality, well-designed affordable homes that support thriving communities. Nansledan’s affordable homes range from apartments to family houses, spread throughout the development, reflecting local vernacular. Because they are designed and built to the same high standards, they are indistinguishable from the other types of housing. We are proud to see Nansledan celebrated on an international stage.”

Eric Osth, ICAA Board Member and Chair of the Gindroz Award Committee, remarked, “Nansledan serves as a potent demonstration of the relevance of traditional placemaking to creating new mixed-income communities that are walkable, sustainable, and beautiful, and the ICAA is honored to recognize it with the Gindroz Award for Excellence in Affordable Housing. This innovative development seamlessly integrates much-needed affordable housing alongside market-rate residences in the familiar form of a remarkable traditional town. The Nansledan model is at the forefront of the drive to address the contemporary housing crisis, and we hope it will inspire additional communities in the UK, the United States, and worldwide.”

The ICAA is grateful for the longstanding support of the Muse Family Foundation for making the Gindroz Award for Excellence in Affordable Housing possible, and to Suzanne Santry for providing additional support.

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