But today, one of London's oldest and largest housing associations, Peabody, offers a glimmer of hope that things could be different. The 150-year-old trust has announced a shortlist of designs by 20 young architects that could become blueprints for the next generation of affordable homes.

“We know there's a lot of talent out there, but it's just not being used,” says Claire Bennie, development director at Peabody, who organised the open competition. “The smaller practices just can't make it through the EU procurement rules that most housing associations use, due to onerous requirements on turnover and the sheer size of the documents to fill out.”