South West Awards for Planning Excellence shortlist
The RTPI South West Awards for Planning Excellence 2026 celebrate the very best plans, projects, homes and people.
Congratulations to the following entries who have been selected for our 2026 shortlist:
Best Plan
- Green Heritage Homes entered by Bath and North East Somerset Council
- Melksham Neighbourhood Plan entered by Place Studio
- Tisbury and West Tisbury Neighbourhood Plan entered by Tisbury Parish Council
Best Project
- Glastonbury Abbey Yard and St. Dunstan’s House Community Health & Wellbeing Centre entered by Mott MacDonald
Best Homes and Communities Scheme
- Bell Close, Bristol entered by BDP
- Hazelmead Cohousing, Bridport entered by Barefoot Architects
- McArthur’s Yard, Bristol entered by Nash Partnership, Guinness Partnership and The Hill Group,
Planning Authority of the Year
- Bath and North East Somerset Council
- Bristol City Council - Development Management
Small Planning Consultancy of the Year
- Bailey Partnership
- Feria Urbanism
- Pearce Planning
Mid-size Planning Consultancy of the Year
- Lighthouse Development Consulting
Young Planner of the Year
- Alison Balsdon, Devon County Council
- Elizabeth Bisp, Black Box Planning
*South West Chair’s Award - unsung heroes of planning
- Katie Saunders, Plymouth City Council
- Linda Hayden, Somerset Council
- Senjuti Manna, BCP Council
*This is a special award chosen locally by the South West Chair and presented alongside the regional awards. The winner does not go through to the national awards.
Find out more about each of these shortlisted entries:
Join us to celebrate regional excellence
Now that our regional shortlist is out, we are looking forward to meeting and giving recognition to the planners and teams who have delivered such inspiring work this past year.
We hope you can join us for our South West celebration event on Wednesday 1 July where we will be announcing and honouring our local winners. The South West Summer Members reception and awards presentation will be held at Sandy Park Stadium in Exeter
Find out more about this celebratory event here.
A stepping stone to our national celebration
The winners in the South West will become national finalists*.
High scoring shortlisted project entries from the regions and nations are also put through for judging in the national awards and will be judged against the other projects in their selected categories for the national finalist list. The remaining four direct to national categories are also judged to complete the national finalist list of 16 categories.
The national finalists will be announced on 7 October. And the winners will be honoured at a celebration ceremony taking place in London on 3 December.
*All Young Planner of the Year winners will be entered into the national shortlist and will be judged by the national judges and the top five will become national finalists.
If you’re interested in sponsoring the South West Awards for Planning Excellence, please contact Charlotte.Daborn@rtpi.org.uk
More information
If you have any questions, please visit the awards hub or contact Charlotte Daborn, RTPI South West Regional Manager.
