We're delighted that High House Artists' Studios has been shortlisted for a RIBA East award this year. It's a bit of a surprise, to be honest, as it is quite uncompromising building in many ways, certainly a long way from some of the elegant houses and eye-catching public buildings that are usually award-winners. On a really tight budget, and working hand-in-glove with the studios' operator Acme in realising their business model for keeping rents genuinely affordable, we strove to not only create an economic and efficient building but also to explore the unusual typology of a new-build studio complex and what kind of architecture might be appropriate for it.

We showed the judges round last week and it was with a great deal of pride that both Acme's director Jonathan Harvey and myself could show them into a fully occupied building that now really demonstrates the need for affordable studio space, that unusual locations like Purfleet can really work for the artistic community, and that the building meets this need really well. The studios are messy, creative, customised, and full of life, which is exactly as it should be. Hugo Glendinning, a photographer commissioned by Acme to document the life of the studios, has also recently returned to photograph the studios in use and we're looking forward to sharing his images here soon.