The entries have been submitted, the judging panel have had their say and now we're ready for you, our readers, to cast your vote in the Homebuilding & Renovating Awards 2026, in partnership with The Times and The Sunday Times.
"We received a huge amount of entries for our awards this year and, as always, we were blown away by so many of the projects," says Beth Murton, editor of Homebuilding & Renovating. "Drawing up a final shortlist for each of the categories in our awards was a tough job, but we're thrilled with the selection of self-build, renovation and extension projects this year.
"The winners of each category and the overall Home of the Year have been chosen by our judging panel and will be announced in the February issue of Homebuilding & Renovating magazine (on sale 7 January 2027)," adds Beth. "However, before that you have chance to vote for your favourite project from our final shortlist and crown the winner of the Reader's Choice Award." Take a tour of the shortlisted projects below and then vote for your favourite.
Shortlist for Homebuilding & Renovating Awards 2026
Each of the following projects have been shortlisted by our judging panel for one (or more) categories. Browse the shortlist and then cast your vote below.
Cottage extension
- Shortlisted for Best Extension
- Location Staffordshire
- Architects Egon Hansen Architects
The home has been totally transformed from a small, constrained 19th century two-up, two-down cottage into a high-performance modern home with a fabric first design ethos.
The entire home has been reoriented, reconfigured and extended to suit the site and the needs of the family. At first floor level, up the steep cottage stair, the two original bedrooms have been opened to the eaves – one has a deck for sleeping and each now has its own en-suite bathroom.
At ground level, the grey brick wall runs through the living spaces and into the garden connecting interior and exterior, while other new walls have been subtly angled, aligning the cottage towards the garden, increasing openness in the courtyard.
Highlands self-build
- Shortlisted for Best Self-Build and Spirit of Self-Build
- Location Wester Ross, Scottish Highlands
- Architects SBA Architects
With this amazing house, the ambition was to shape it from within. As a result, it was anchored into a hillside in the Scottish Highlands, so that it feels discovered rather than built.
The design draws on the language of the traditional black house, reinterpreted in a contemporary way using stone and a turf roof that follows the natural contours of the land and the building steps through the hillside across three open-plan levels, allowing it to remain largely hidden. In doing so, it echoes both the topography and the memory of the site, incorporating the original ruin and acknowledging its mid-19th century inhabitants.
Much of the construction was undertaken by the owner, working closely alongside his son. This hands-on involvement allowed for a deep connection to the process, supported by specialist crafts where needed, ensuring the original vision was carried through without compromise.
Coach house
- Shortlisted for Best Renovation
- Location The Cotswolds
- Architects Stamp Architecture & Design
The brief for this extension and renovation project centred on two priorities – improving how the building functions for its retired occupants, and upgrading its environmental performance using materials appropriate to its historic fabric.
Internal layouts were reconfigured to create an open-plan kitchen, living and dining space within the building's former hayloft, and a new main bedroom suite at ground floor level. An existing first-floor window opening in the kitchen was adapted to form a level-access bridge to the rear garden, removing a significant barrier to accessibility without altering the building's external character.
Thermal improvements were made using breathable, low-impact materials throughout – wood-fibre insulation and limecrete flooring – chosen specifically to work with the historic structure rather than against it.
Industrial conversion
- Shortlisted for Best Conversion and Best Green Home
- Location West London
- Architects WGP Architects/Loud Architects
Latter House is the conversion of a derelict retail building most recently used as an auction house and originally a builder's merchants. The owners bought the infill development – with sawtooth north lights and 12 party walls – with planning permission to pull down the entire structure and rebuild.
The aim, however, was to retain the original main building, only removing the more recent extensions, to minimise landfill and to keep the industrial heritage. The resulting home has a small courtyard garden with metal-frame double doors to all ground floor rooms, retaining an Art Deco feel in places, to reflect the original era of the structure.
Elsewhere, more modern elements have been added, such as a double-height staircase with integrated bookcase and storage underneath, including a small bar area.
Portobello townhouse
- Shortlisted for Best Renovation and Best Interior
- Location West London
- Architects Woodrow Vizor Architects
A dilapidated Victorian townhouse was reimagined as a crafted family home organised around vertical connection and a renewed relationship between interior and exterior spaces.
At its centre is a dramatic double-height circulation space linking the kitchen, dining area, garden and upper floors. A flowing staircase rises through the house to a new roof terrace, while curved walls, openings and joinery soften the tall volumes and guide the eye.
A rebuilt rear outrigger and a lowered courtyard aligned with the kitchen level further enhance openness and strengthen indoor-outdoor continuity. Natural finishes – including lime paint, oak joinery, microcement and exposed timber elements – establish a warm, healthy and cohesive palette.
Church house
- Shortlisted for Best Renovation
- Location Cambridgeshire
- Architects Neil Dusheiko Architects
Church House is a Victorian villa that has been transformed into a coherent, architecturally considered family home for one couple and their three children. The architect’s task was to extend the house while being sympathetic to the style of the church opposite.
The ground floor has been entirely reorganised and a new single-storey brick-and-glass rear extension pivots the plan to frame an uninterrupted view of the church spire from the dining room, making it a daily presence in family life.
Full-height glazing, a coffered oak ceiling and a built-in bench seat define a room of quiet specificity. Materials are simple and enduring: reclaimed Cambridge yellow stock brick, solid oak joinery, warm brass fittings, handmade light fixtures and a Luana Multicolour marble island worktop.
Granary renovation
- Shortlisted for Best Conversion and Best Value
- Location Hampshire
- Architects Studio B.A.D
The Granary was a dated and awkwardly arranged dwelling that was transformed into a cohesive, light-filled home, demonstrating how modest changes can deliver significant spatial and environmental improvements while protecting the historic character.
The building forms part of a late-18th-century model farmstead and is a well-preserved example of agricultural architecture of the period. The floorplan was completely reorganised to become open, connected and social, with living spaces retained at this level.
The reconfigured kitchen exemplifies the transformation: once dark and disconnected, it is now a generous, daylit-space organised around a central island, with rooflights and French doors establishing a strong connection to the garden.
Modernist house
- Shortlisted for Spirit of Self-build and Best Value
- Location East London
- Architects Studio Manifest
Adding a light-filled rooftop studio achieved a 50% increase in floor area to this 1960s house – all while respecting the original modernist look. To ensure the modest budget was directed toward high-performance technical upgrades, the clients undertook the internal fit-out themselves, working in close coordination with the architects.
This client-led procurement strategy allowed for a radical fabric-first thermal upgrade, resolving original 1960s defects such as cold-bridging, condensation, and overheating.
Locally sourced timber and recycled elements were incorporated to reduce embodied carbon, seamlessly integrating a whole-house MVHR system and an air source heat pump, and the home now aligns with Passivhaus principles.
SIPs build
- Shortlisted for Best Self-Build and Best Green Home
- Location Northumberland
- Architect Peter Mouncey
This home is a structural insulated panel (SIPs) self-build, designed and built by an aspirational couple who wanted to create an exemplar for sustainable development in rural Northumberland.
The objective was to minimise their environmental impact by using renewable/recyclable materials, rely solely on wind and solar energy and achieve net zero carbon or better. It sits just outside the Northumberland National Park and UNESCO World Heritage sites where stringent building and planning restrictions are imposed.
Complemented by triple glazing designed to maximise light and solar gain, every element of this house has been carefully and tastefully curated to achieve the clients’ net zero ambition.
Victorian end of terrace
- Shortlisted for Best Renovation
- Location Somerset
- Architects Emil Eve Architects
This renovation of a Victorian end of terrace in Somerset rearranges the building’s internal spaces to create connection and flow without altering its footprint. The back of the house has been dramatically opened, with corner-opening glazed sliding doors incorporating the courtyard into the new kitchen dining and living space – reimagining the indoor and outdoor areas as one large light-filled 'room’.
By subtly zoning the house – with family sleeping space on the top floor, working areas in the middle and living space at ground level – the architects have overcome the building’s challenging layout, cleverly rationalising storage and unlocking space for more modern amenities, including a dressing room and extra bathrooms.
Islington townhouse
- Shortlisted for Best Renovation
- Location Islington, north London
- Architects Emil Eve Architects
Redesigning a 19th-century north London terrace transformed a single-aspect townhouse into an elegant, uncluttered home filled with natural light.
Originally built as commercial premises in the late 1800s, the property was acquired as a two-bedroom house with no external space and no windows at all to the rear. It felt dark and cramped, especially the ground floor, which had a bedroom to the front and a damp bathroom behind. The living room and kitchen were on the first floor, with a mezzanine bedroom in the loft space above.
The redesign maximises a relatively small footprint to create a series of bright, calm rooms. Two new outside spaces have also been added in the form of terraces to the front and back – an unusual achievement in Islington’s largest conservation area.
Tooting extension
- Shortlisted for Best Extension
- Location Southwest London
- Architects Woodrow Vizor Architects
The aim was to create a calm, light-filled ‘haven’ for a family of four within a typical London terraced house, increasing usable space while improving spatial flow and connection to the garden.
The extension uses stone-based brick, made from repurposed quarry offcuts, reducing embodied carbon by 45% compared with traditional clay bricks. Inside, a coffered ceiling of solid European oak exposes the joists, turning structure into a tactile, rhythmic presence that defines the heart of the home.
The refurbishment realigns the ground floor, creating a seamless connection between old and new, while a cohesive material palette links interior and garden. The combination of structure, natural light and sustainable materials produces a warm, open and highly tactile living environment.
Modernist villa
- Shortlisted for Best Self-Build
- Location Redhill, Bristol
- Architects DHV Architects
This modernist four-bedroom house in the North Somerset Green Belt has been crafted from Somerset's vernacular materials. Previously occupied by a dilapidated chalet bungalow, the site is positioned on a south-facing hillside with expansive views over the Mendip Hills.
The south-facing two-storey house features a large open-plan kitchen and dining area on the ground floor, with four bedrooms arranged across the upper level. The living areas open onto a generous south-facing patio, offering uninterrupted 180-degree panoramic views from the rolling farmland of the east to glimpses of the Bristol channel to the west.
Basement extension
- Shortlisted for Best Extension, Best Green Home and Best Value
- Location East London
- Architects Studio Grieveson
This self-built deep retrofit and extension transformed a dark, damp basement flat in Walthamstow, north London, into a light-filled home with an additional bedroom and expanded living space. A new rear extension, connected to the existing house by a glazed link, sits apart from the original structure. A generously planted courtyard introduces daylight deep into the existing rooms.
The south-facing elevation features a cantilevered roof that reduces overheating in summer while allowing passive solar gain in winter. Arched openings, inspired by those in the Victorian original building, give the extension a distinctive identity.
Sustainability was a key part of the brief from the outset. The gas supply from the home was removed. An air source heat pump combined with underfloor heating, high levels of insulation and an MVHR ventilation system, provides a very comfortable low-energy home. The project used minimal concrete, avoided steel entirely, and prioritised natural, low-embodied carbon materials throughout. The extension is timber-framed with high levels of natural wood fibre insulation and small foundations.
Coastal self-build
- Shortlisted for Best Self-Build and Best Green Home
- Location Swansea
- Architects Roderick James Architects
Standing as a benchmark for sustainable residential architecture, this project shows how contemporary design can inhabit a protected landscape with humility, intelligence and extraordinary environmental performance. Set within the dramatic coastal heathland of the Gower Peninsula, the project replaces an outdated dwelling with a building that not only treads lightly on its surroundings but actively enhances them.
Much of the building is carefully embedded into the terrain, dramatically reducing its visual impact, stabilising internal temperatures, and creating a sense of quiet belonging within the landscape. A green roof merges seamlessly with the surrounding heath, while earth‐toned materials and drystone retaining walls echo the geology of the site.
Designed as a Net Zero Energy Building (nZEB), it produces as much energy annually as it consumes – an achievement made possible through the seamless integration of passive design principles and high‐performance systems.
Kensington townhouse
- Shortlisted for Best Interior
- Location Kensington, west London
- Architects Office S&M
Designed for two art collectors, this home has undergone a complete renovation, with the addition of a three-storey rear extension. The design balances the practical needs of a functional home with the character of an art gallery.
The homeowners saw the project as an opportunity to commission East London designers and artists to create bespoke pieces for their home. Everyday fixtures are replaced with custom-crafted pieces, like bespoke cast sinks and sculptural toilets, blending art with utility, while the colour palette draws inspiration from their personal collection, carefully designed to complement rather than overshadow the artwork.
Meticulously crafted joinery and clever built-in storage ensure practicality without compromising the home's airy, uncluttered feel. Each space is carefully curated to celebrate creativity and craftsmanship while meeting the practical needs of everyday life and the result is a home that is comfortable, inspiring and deeply personal.
Cork loft
- Shortlisted for Best Extension
- Location East London
- Architects Office S&M
Built almost entirely from cork, this loft conversion proves that being green doesn’t need to be grey. The owners’ brief was simple yet bold: create a loft extension unlike any other, one that challenges convention and celebrates sustainability. The architects selected cork for its exceptional environmental and material qualities.
Cork was used as external cladding, insulation, flooring, and even as aggregate within the render and its light weight made it particularly suited to the loft extension supported by existing Victorian foundations.
The cork façade weathers over time, gradually revealing a beautifully patterned surface. It also provides excellent thermal and acoustic insulation, is lightweight, durable, resistant to moisture and mould, and requires minimal maintenance. Formed without synthetic glues, the material relies on its natural sap as a binder.
1950s renovation
- Shortlisted for Best Renovation
- Location Bristol
- Architects Barefoot Architects
The owners of this 1950s detached home bought the property knowing the house was too small but had the potential to be transformed into a stunning home. After finding an architect, their brief was for efficiency; of energy use and space – a home that could be used flexibly and grow with the family.
"We were trying to redesign the building within all of the existing constraints so that it felt coherent and intentional, rather than a compromise," say the owners. The resulting design was a four-bedroom home with living room featuring a vaulted ceiling at its heart. The former kitchen, living and dining rooms became one space, and a single-storey extension replaced a substandard garage, meaning that, despite an incredible transformation, the footprint of the home remains the same.
Sustainability was important too. The home no longer has gas and is solely electric. During the sunnier months, most of this is generated by the home itself through photovoltaic panels on the roof, an air-source heat pump and a battery. The high levels of wood fibre insulation also made an MVHR system a wise choice.
Walthamstow loft
- Shortlisted for Best Extension
- Location East London
- Architects Shacklewell Architects
This semi-detached Victorian house was enhanced by a generously proportioned loft conversion with a balcony. The owners were keen to make the most of the setting so the rear of the property faces south and overlooks a quiet green space in Walthamstow, creating a tranquil escape from the city.
Internally, the space allows for an en-suite bathroom and large open-plan bedroom. A bespoke headboard acts as a subtle division in the space and provides views to the balcony and beyond. The loft is clad in red zinc, providing a distinctive contrast with the skies over East London.
Birch extension
- Shortlisted for Best Extension
- Location Southwest London
- Architects Forgeworks
The owners’ brief was to overcome this Victorian terrace’s low rear ceilings, a hallway with no ‘touch down’ space, a narrow galley kitchen and small living and dining rooms. This was compounded by poor thermal performance of the existing fabric throughout.
The finished result was an extension with abundant space for cooking and entertaining and masses of bespoke storage throughout the ground floor. Maximising natural light, a pivot door reads almost as a picture window when closed and creates a seamless connection to the new garden terrace when open. A bespoke cast concrete island and dining table is the centrepiece of the new kitchen, paired with birch plywood faced units and custom joinery designed by Forgeworks.
Across the rest of the ground floor, storage was added in the widened hallway with a built-in bench and umbrella stand, and in the living room with bespoke cupboards and feature shelving – again in birch plywood.
Cast your vote
Chosen your favourite project? It's time to cast your vote.
Make sure you click on 'Done' to ensure your vote is registered.
Voting closes at midnight on 6 December.
Homebuilding & Renovating Awards 2026 categories & sponsors
Our categories for 2026 cover a wide range of project types, from complete self-builds and conversions to extensions and renovations. Projects could be considered for multiple categories.
Best Self-Build sponsored by Self-Build Zone
This is the category for new homes built from scratch. The judges were looking for well-designed new homes of all styles, sizes and budgets.
Best Extension sponsored by Korniche
For projects that have added an extension to an existing property to create a home that works for the homeowner's lifestyle perfectly.
Best Conversion sponsored by JK Floorheating
From barns and schools to churches and other such non-domestic buildings. We wanted to see structures that have been transformed into modern homes.
Best Renovation sponsored by 21Degrees
We were searching for previously dated, forgotten and unloved homes that have been saved through careful restoration, imaginative remodels or ambitious house renovation schemes.
Best Green Home Sponsored by Internorm
This eco home category is for homes that have been built or retrofitted to the very highest sustainable standards.
Best Interior
The judges were looking for any type of home project that showcases a flair for finishing touches on the house design and attention to detail.
Spirit of Self-Build sponsored by Loftleg
This category shines a light on homes that have been delivered against all the odds, or have significantly improved the lives of its occupants.
Best Value Home
A category for homes that represent exceptional value for money, or projects that have been achieved on a tight budget.
2026 judging panel
Our panel of experts judges who judged this year's Homebuilding & Renovating Awards and decided on the winners in each category.
- Laura Jane Clark: founder of Lamp Architects, TV presenter (Your Home Made Perfect and Ugly House to Lovely House) and author of The Handbook of Home Design.
- Darren Bray: founder and director of Studio B.A.D Architects, lectures at Reading School of Architecture and is a visiting critic at Brighton Interior Architecture School.
- Julian McIntosh: founder of JMA Architects, he has appeared on the TV show Your Home Made Perfect. Julian specialises in home designs that focus on light, layout and flow.
- Michael Holmes Director of Content at Homebuilding & Renovating and chair of the National Custom and Self Build Association, an author and a presenter of various TV property shows.
- Beth Murton: Editor of Homebuilding & Renovating and has been a homes journalist for more than 20 years. She has also renovated two houses.
- Hugh Graham: is a Senior Writer for The Times and The Sunday Times. He is a two-time winner of Property Journalist of the Year and Lifestyle and Interiors Journalist of the Year.
Don't forget to pick up your copy of Homebuilding & Renovating magazine for in-depth tours of the winning and shortlisted projects, along with all the advice you need for your own self-build, renovation or extension.
