grand designs house of the year 2021 winner: gloucestershire farm house

Gloucestershire farmhouse named House of the Year 2021

A dramatic extension earned this Georgian property one of RIBA's top accolades

By Victoria Purcell | 8 December 2021

A Georgian farmhouse in Gloucestershire, dramatically transformed with a contemporary extension, has been named the RIBA House of the Year 2021 winner.

House on the Hill, overlooking the Wye Valley in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, scooped the Royal Institute of British Architects’ prestigious annual award, which strives to find the UK’s best new architect-designed house.

Revealed in the final episode of Grand Designs: House of the Year on Channel 4, the winning home fuses a three-storey, 18th century stone farmhouse with a new two-storey wing to create a seamless new home and vast gallery space for owners David and Jenny and their art collection.

House of the Year 2021 winner: House on the Hill in a Gloucestershire AONB by Alison Brooks Architects

House on the Hill by Alison Brooks Architects. Photo: Channel 4 / Paul Riddle

Fusing old and new

The House of the Year 2021 winner saw the old farmhouse meticulously restored, while the new extension – larger than the original house – is set back and partially embedded into the hillside, clad in dark wood inspired by the nearby Forest of Dean.

Inside, on the ground floor, the open-plan kitchen, living and dining areas flow into each other and onto exterior terraces. With the kitchen in the centre, overlooked by a mezzanine gallery on the floor above. The main staircase also doubles-up as a gallery, and leads up to two bedrooms, an office and a further terrace.

house of the year winner 2021, house on the hill in gloucestershire

The house also functions as a gallery space. Photo: Channel 4 / Paul Riddle

The angles throughout the house, from the skylights to the walls and steel columns, are intentionally skewed and undulating, drawing the eye to surprising focal points. Niches, benches and recesses add even more areas to display the owner’s art.

‘This geometric design skilfully fuses together the old with the new – connecting two architectures separated by over 300 years,’ said RIBA President, Simon Allford, of the House of the Year 2021 Winner.

A Georgian farmhouse in Gloucestershire, dramatically transformed with a contemporary extension, has been named the RIBA House of the Year 2021 winner.

House on the Hill by Alison Brooks Architects. Photo: Channel 4 / Paul Riddle

Fusing old and new

The house also functions as a gallery space. Photo: Channel 4 / Paul Riddle

A highly competitive year

In a ‘highly competitive year’, the judges were impressed by ‘the replacement of a very large 1970s shed with Alison Brooks Architects’ lower-scaled and fragmented form’, said architect Amin Taha, Chair of the RIBA House of the Year 2021 jury.

Amin noted that contenders on the RIBA shortlist excelled in ‘sustainability, craftsmanship, reuse, economy of means and thought-provoking sensitivity,’ but House on the Hill managed to strike a better balance than most.

In terms of eco-credentials, the farmhouse has installed ground and air-source heat pumps alongside solar panels to reduce energy consumption. The surrounding grounds, including a new dry-stone walled garden, have also been revitalised with new wildflower meadows and orchards, bordered by hedges with pollen-rich plant species. Additionally, the new wing has an extensive green roof to reduce rainwater loss.

house of the year 2021 farmhouse becomes a gallery

Even the staircase offers display space. Photo: Channel 4 / Paul Riddle

The owners of House on the Hill, David and Jenny, said: ‘Ours was a very protracted project, so the client and architect relationship had to be one of mutual confidence.

‘The interplay of the house and its gardens with the wider surrounds provides an ever-changing source of pleasure. The house is in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the house and landscape complement each other.’

Gloucesterhsire farmhouse with new extension named house of the year 2021

The grounds have also been revitalised with pollen-rich plant species. Photo: Channel 4 / Paul Riddle

The architect, Alison Brooks, added: ‘It’s a real honour to win RIBA House of the Year among an accomplished shortlist of beautiful projects. I see private house commissions as a rare opportunity to test new ideas in a concentrated form – they are the built equivalent of writing an essay.

‘So this accolade is a testament to my client’s belief in the value of architecture and their willingness to embrace the new. I’m grateful for their trust in me and my team of talented architects, in Akera Engineers and the brilliant team of builders and gardeners whose skilful contributions produced this remarkable house and gardens, that together reveal a new way of living in the landscape.’

This year’s House of the Year judges were Amin Taha, Chairman of GROUPWORKS; Cany Ash, co-founder of Ash Sakula Architects; and Kieran McGonigle, RIBA House of the Year 2019 winner and co-founder of McGonigle McGrath.