Special Announcement: Yvonne Field OBE is one of nine non-architects that have been awarded with a RIBA Honorary Fellow Award in 2024.
RIBA Honorary Fellowships are awarded every year to people who have made a significant contribution to architecture but are not architects. This includes people who have helped improve the quality of design and influence the delivery of the built environment in a more sustainable way, those involved in its promotion and management, and those who nurture the interests of future generations.
Yvonne Field says: "I am delighted to accept this award and be acknowledged as an Honorary Fellow for RIBA in 2024."
Download the full list of RIBA Honorary Fellows here
Nominations for RIBA Honorary Fellows 2025 close on 1 July 2024.
This summer of 2024, Ubele will celebrate it’s 10th Anniversary at The Wolves Lane Centre in Haringey. Ubele has developed this horticultural centre and community food growing hub in partnership with Organic Lea and wider community stakeholders. The Wolves Lane Consortium has raised over £3.5m to build an innovative Community Eco-Hub, supported by the National Lottery Community Fund, GLA, Clothworkers and Haringey Council.
Three new ecologically designed buildings are near completion. The site will host community kitchens, workshop & learning spaces, offices, distribution warehouse and event spaces, including an eco-wedding venue. The innovative scheme has been designed with a strong emphasis on circular economy, constructed from a palette of natural materials that sequester rather than generate carbon. In the build process local communities were trained in innovate techniques like straw bale insulation.
In 2024 Ubele also launches a major strategic intervention called Agbero 2100. This exciting programme will offer opportunities for Black and racially minoritised leaders across the UK to build sustainable infrastructure by redeveloping community assets, growing intergenerational leadership and promoting local enterprise. This multi-year intervention has initially secured over £1.5m from funders Propel London and the Joseph Rowntree Community Foundation.
Yvonne Field OBE commented, “I am delighted to receive this award on behalf of the many community leaders who work with often little support to maintain crucial community assets across the country. This work creates important resources as well as social enterprise and leadership development opportunities for the diverse communities of the UK.”
ABOUT YVONNE FIELD - Notes to Editors
Social Entrepreneur, CEO and Founder of The Ubele Initiative www.ubele.org
Yvonne Field is an activist who mobilises community groups and encourages community building. Founder and CEO of The Ubele Initiative, a social enterprise promoting Black and community-led development, her work has revitalised disadvantaged neighbourhoods, providing spaces that inspire and uplift, acting as an unwavering advocate for sustainable and creative approaches. Established in 2014, Ubele produces a significant body of national research, including ‘A Place to Call Home’ (2015 and 2024) which highlighted the need for new, more sustainable models of design as well as capacity-building support for iconic Black and racially minoritised community spaces across England.
Yvonne Field was awarded an OBE in 2023 for her services to the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector and social justice.
