The Urban Woods shortlisted for the Cobouw Sustainability Award 2026

The Urban Woods Delft has been shortlisted for the Cobouw Sustainability Award 2026. It is a welcome recognition for a project in which timber construction, circular material use, biodiversity and social connection have been integrated from the very start. Urban Climate Architects has been involved as architect from the early stages of this future-ready residential development in Delft.

Sustainable timber construction as an integrated design strategy

The Urban Woods shows that sustainable timber architecture is about much more than reducing energy demand. The building combines 102 mid-market rental apartments with shared facilities and green outdoor spaces. Its timber construction demonstrates how biobased construction and CLT building in the Netherlands can contribute to healthier, lower-carbon urban housing.

Circularity also plays an important role in the material strategy. Within the wider development and research around The Urban Woods, C-CLT is being developed using reclaimed timber, including discarded pallets and waste wood. Material that might otherwise have been downcycled or incinerated can instead gain a high-value second life in the built environment.

Read more about UCA’s research into circular C-CLT made from waste wood. The research brings together design, material innovation and collaboration across the construction chain.

More than a sustainable building material

The strength of The Urban Woods lies in its broader approach. Alongside timber construction, the project focuses on nature-inclusive design, adaptability and opportunities for residents to meet one another.

Green roofs, terraces and outdoor spaces form part of a living environment designed around people as well as nature. In this way, sustainable architecture becomes tangible not only through materials and carbon reduction, but also through everyday comfort, wellbeing and social connection.

This approach reflects Urban Climate Architects’ wider vision of sustainable and nature-inclusive architecture, where material choices, climate resilience, health and quality of life are considered as part of one integrated design process.

Building a different construction practice together

The Urban Woods being shortlisted is above all a recognition of the shared ambition of the many parties involved in designing, researching, developing and building the project.

For Urban Climate Architects, the project connects directly to our work in mass timber architecture, circular construction and healthy urban living environments. We see these not as separate innovations, but as interconnected parts of a future-proof approach to architecture.

The project also builds on UCA’s wider programme of research into timber construction and circular building materials, where research insights are translated into practical solutions for the built environment.

Explore more Urban Climate Architects projects and discover how we work towards healthier, more circular and climate-resilient cities.