Home built from local materials praised by judges for its ‘exceptional craftmanship’
A stone and timber self-build house in Scotland’s remote Outer Hebrides has been named as the best new home in the UK.
Coachan na Creige, meaning ‘little quiet one by the rock’, was announced as the winner of the 2025 RIBA House of the Year award in an episode of Grand Designs yesterday evening.
The small 85sq m home was designed by Eilidh Izat and Jack Arundell, directors of local practice Izat Arundell, for themselves with help from Izat’s furniture maker brother Alasdair Izat.
The house was chosen unanimously from a shortlist of six projects by judges, who praised its site-responsive design and “exceptional craftsmanship”.
Clad in local gneiss stone on the outside and Scottish cedar on its interior walls, the timber-framed house is designed to nestle in the landscape while providing expansive views across the sea and surrounding headland.
RIBA said the home “appears to grow out of its rugged surroundings”, balancing the demands of an unforgiving climate with a “deep respect for the surrounding environment”.
Jury chair David Kohn said the project addressed every issue it faced, including a tight budget, with a “rare mixture of sensitivity and boldness”.
“Modest in size, but luxurious in its connection to the surroundings landscape, it is self-built from hyper-local stone in a way that is suited to its material qualities,” Kohn said.
“Its enigmatic form, recalling large castles and defensive structures, belies its intimate scale.
All these things make it an exemplarily home which will have much to contribute to future debates around domestic architecture in rural contexts.”
The other shortlisted homes were Amento by James Gorst Architects, Jankes Barn by Lynch Architects, Hastings House by Hugh Strange Architects, Housestead by Sanei Hopkins Architects, London Brut by Pricegore Architects and Triangle House by Artefact.
Housestead and London Brut were both unveiled on the finale of the Grand Designs series yesterday evening as the final two projects on the shortlist.
Housestead, located in Aldeburgh, Suffolk, was praised for its “quirky and deeply inventive design that has something of a 1980s postmodernism’s playfulness about it”.
Judges said London Brut, an extension and refurbishment of a four-storey 1960s townhouse in central London, had used a “deeply considered and consistently applied design philosophy” to create “spaces of drama and delight”.
The full jury consisted of David Kohn, founding director of David Kohn Architects, Gill Lambert, director at AOC, Amalia Skoufoglou, founding director of O’Sullivan Skoufoglou Architects, and Livia Wang, creative director at Van Gogh House London.
Past recipients of the award include Six Columns by 31/44 Architects in 2024, Green House by Hayhurst & Co in 2023, and The Red House by David Kohn Architects in 2022.
Channel 4 had previously dropped Grand Designs: House of the Year in 2023, choosing not to recommission the series after it had aired annually since its 2015 launch. The series was reinstated in 2024.
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