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what house? awards What house ? Awards 20 11

Two more big names in the UK housebuilding generosity in an exceptional and inspiring location. of all our staff,” said Bob Weston, chairman and chief supply chain have signed up again as sponsors of The buzz and excitement around the What House? executive of Weston Homes. the What House? Awards, recognizing the best Awards - now in their 30th year - is building by the Rob Perrins, managing director of the Berkeley new homes in Britain. week and I am sure we will once again see Group, said: “The What House? Awards are the Roca, the leading global bathroom brand, is outstanding examples of housebuilding excellence industry Oscars. To win Best Large Housebuilder in sponsoring the Awards for a sixth successive year. from developers large and small,” said Rupert Bates, the most challenging economic period of the last 20 “Roca is committed to design, innovation and to editorial director of www.whathouse.co.uk. years was a great accolade for the Berkeley Group.” producing cutting-edge products that help individuals Last year’s What House? Awards Housebuilder of Best Small Housebuilder 2010 was Millwood create a unique bathroom space. The What House? the Year was Weston Homes. “To win housebuilding’s Designer Homes and its managing director John Awards offer us a perfect opportunity to support those ultimate prize was a fantastic achievement and Elliott said: “The What House? Awards ceremony is a like-minded, exciting, dynamic new developers, testament to the commitment, dedication and talent fantastic celebration of the housebuilding industry.” delivering pioneering projects to their local markets,” said Georgina Spencer, Roca marketing manager. “Roca’s ongoing research and commitment to What House? Entry provide complete bathroom solutions for now as well prospectuses can be as the future has a clear correlation with the forward- downloaded from thinking building advances that are celebrated at the www.whathouse.co.uk/ What House? Awards. We are delighted to be what-house-awards. involved and look forward to another great industry celebration in November.” For details of the 2011 Land & New Homes is making big What House? Awards inroads into the new build market with its service contact Derek Smith: offering and innovative marketing initiatives, led by [email protected]. managing director Peter Krelle. Tel: 020-7324-2800. “Sponsoring the house building Oscars last year put Spicerhaart Land & New Homes, and our unrivalled For sponsorship proposition, in front of key decision-makers within this opportunities contact Ian unique industry. Sponsoring this key event again Cunningham: really was a ‘no brainer’ for us. I very much look [email protected]. forward to the What House? Awards this year and Tel: 020-73234-2800 seeing some new, and not so new faces, receiving recognition for a job well done. I am sure we will forge as many new relationships as we did during and after Georgina Spencer Peter Krelle last year’s ceremony,” said Krelle. Other sponsors already signed up are Nolte Kuchen, Germany’s second-largest kitchen brand, Electrolux Group, one of the leading suppliers of kitchen appliances to housebuilders with the Electrolux, Zanussi and AEG brands and Premier Guarantee, providing housebuilders with new homes warranties, insurance and building services. Another long-standing What House? Awards sponsor is Johnson Tiles, with its huge portfolio of wall and floor tiles, pushing creative boundaries through a range of designs, colours and sizes. Last month Johnson Tiles hosted a What House? Awards launch lunch at its Material Lab in London, a striking studio to source materials, seek design and architectural inspiration and discuss projects. Housebuilders, including several What House? Awards winners, judges, journalists, sponsors and other suppliers gathered for an informal lunch, with the Awards now open to entrants across 21 categories. “We would like to thank Johnson Tiles for their great

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2010 what house? awards gold winners

BEST STARTER HOME BEST LUXURY HOUSE BEST PARTNERSHIP SCHEME Dandara Oakmayne Bespoke Miller Homes Image, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire Blackwood House, Cornwall Terrace, Regents Miller Zero, Basingstoke, Hampshire Housed in the former Kodak Tower in Hemel Park, London NW1 Whatever the problems, frustrations and diversions on Hempstead. The 20-storey former office block has Oakmayne Bespoke worked closely with the Crown the road to Zero Carbon 2016, partnerships between been thoughtfully transformed into 455 apartments, Estate and English Heritage to create this magnificent builders and energy suppliers and consultants are all of which offer fabulous views of Hemel new home behind the Grade I listed facade of one of absolutely critical. They have to work hand in hand for Hempstead and the surrounding countryside. London’s most elegant Regency terraces. Successfully the industry to have any chance at all of meeting the Unusually, there are 14 apartment types available, combining the very latest in modern technology with green challenge ahead. Miller Homes bravely stepped but the judges viewed a one-bedroom unit on the historical accuracy in terms of fireplaces, cornicing in and built, for the open market not some laboratory 14th floor. Priced at £185,000, this 547-square-foot and cabinetry, is an outstanding achievement. experiment, five homes to different sustainable code unit is extremely light due to the impressive floor to Heating, audio, lighting and security touch screen levels. Anyone with any interest in low carbon housing ceiling windows. All appliances, bar a washing systems demanded some 1700 miles of cabling. The from government to the smallest developer is machine, are included in the price, as is the flooring. magnificent 10,772 sq ft mansion is on the market, considered a partner. Shared knowledge and problem- Storage throughout is excellent, with fitted fully furnished, for £39 million. It took a team of 250 solving to address a huge environmental issue. wardrobes, a large hall cupboard and large bathroom craftsmen over two and a half years to create cabinet all included. Blackwood House. The result is a triumph.

BEST MIXED USE DEVELOPMENT Gladedale Capital BEST HOUSE BEST RENOVATION Quartermile, Edinburgh Urban Revolution City & Country Group This cosmopolitan mix of luxury conversions and new Dene Terrace, Chislehurst, Kent Old Saint Michaels, Braintree, Essex build apartments, cafes, retail and office space is one This category featured amongst the best houses the Built as the Poor Law Union Workhouse in 1937-8 of the most sought after contemporary developments judges have ever seen, with the gold winner a simply and now Grade II listed, Old Saint Michaels is a rare in the Scottish capital, featuring a very good mix of outstanding house. The elevations are in a beautiful example of the hexagonal plan workhouse. The residential and commercial properties, including high brick and they are simple and traditional without buildings were neglected and a series of insensitive quality office space. In the centre of the Quatermile unnecessary frilly details. The range of sales values additions had been made. City & Country’s vision for scheme, there are very nice commercial units which for the houses is between £380 and £420 per sq ft for Old Saint Michaels was to work with the historic are not yet operational, but offer great potential for a the show house - a very impressive achievement to get ‘grain’ of the site and develop the Victorian buildings wine bar, restaurant or high end retail space. A this quality for such good value. The quality of the into a range of one, two and three bedroom genuine sense of place and a feeling that the scheme interiors is simply outstanding. This is a benchmark apartments and mews cottages set in landscaped has been established for longer than it actually has. for others to follow - a well designed terraced house courtyard gardens. Minimal intervention, retention of that sets new standards of design and workmanship . original fabric, thoughtfulness and a willingness to do the best for the buildings has paid dividends.

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPER OF THE YEAR Berkeley Group BEST APARTMENT SCHEME An unfaltering dedication to sustainability. This year Urban Splash BEST DEVELOPMENT saw the Berkeley Group launch Vision 2020 with a Mills Bakery, Plymouth, Devon Manor Kingdom ten-year strategy to achieving their goals. This Vision Mills Bakery is part of the Grade I Listed Royal William Kip Village, Inverkip, Renfrewshire demonstrates Berkeley Group’s long-term commitment Yard, Victorian buildings at the heart of the Royal Navy The Kip Village development is a stunning collection to sustainability with a focus on the customer, the dockyards in Plymouth. The granite and limestone of apartments, townhouses and detached properties home, the community and the business. bakery has been skillfully converted into 86 homes and located on the West coast of Scotland. It is a bold At the Berkeley Group their internal Sustainability/ workspaces, overlooking what is now a yacht marina. scheme, with a welcome mix of accommodation, H&S Committee help to align their sustainability The limitations of working in a Listed building have ranging from one bedroom apartments all the way strategy with the overall business objectives. This been turned to great advantage by Urban Splash: high through to detached five bedroom houses. All have organisational structure also enables continuous ceilings, steel girders above a central lobby, thick walls stunning views to either the Firth of Clyde, or the improvement of successive projects. The only major with deep window recesses, huge timbered beams, marina. In some ways, the design concept, with the housebuilder with a Climate Change policy and in wide wooden staircases, and white and grey paintwork accommodation wrapped around a marina, is more November 2009 Berkeley ranked first in are all integral to the building, and combine to define reminiscent of a Mediterranean village than a NextGeneration the benchmark of the top 25 UK a style both classic and contemporary. Scottish coastal development. Yet the massing and housebuilders. detailed design of the buildings has its roots, unmistakeably in the Scottish vernacular. WHA_Layout 1 28/04/2011 16:23 Page 3

2010 what house? awards gold winners

BEST SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT BEST INTERIOR DESIGN BEST LARGE HOUSING ASSOCIATION Miller Homes Octagon Thames Valley Housing Merton Rise, Basingstoke, Hampshire Selborne Place, Weybridge, Surrey Celebrating the 30th anniversary of its formation This could have been a small internal research project Quality, value and character delivered by Octagon this year, Thames Valley Housing has adopted the but instead Merton Rise has become a landmark and Hill House Interiors. All furniture and phrase “reach for excellence” as its mantra, and has development that is not just informing Miller Homes furnishings are generously included in the asking applied this approach across the business, resulting but guiding industry, government and consumers. prices, ranging from £1.85-£2.35 million, a clever in innovation, excellent customer service and a Merton Rise has looked at how a developer can take way to reel in buyers in an uncertain market. Good reputation for building strong partnerships. a conventionally specified site and step it up to design was reflected throughout the house, without TVH manages more than 14,000 homes across achieve levels three, four, five and even six. Rather compromising on practicality - from the smart, seven counties and London, working in close than simply shop around Miller chose to challenge purposeful office; fuchsia colour infusion in Romo partnership with local authorities. In the 12 months their existing supply chain to rise to the occasion. fabric on kitchen/dining room chairs and the colour to September 2010, it built 739 homes for shared This may not be the biggest or even the deepest co-ordinated fish in the family room aquarium and ownership sale - primarily through Newbuild green housing development in recent years but it is bespoke Chinese wallpaper. The highlight was the HomeBuy and equity loans, 780 units for affordable almost certainly the most important. child’s bedroom, with fantastic storage and every inch rent, and 477 homes for key workers and students. utilised in a bright, fun, but highly practical way.

BEST RETIREMENT DEVELOPMENT BEST SHARED OWNERSHIP DEVELOPMENT Richmond Villages BEST EXTERIOR DESIGN Knightstone Housing Association Richmond Letcombe Regis near Wantage , Gladedale Capital Ducrow Court, St. Paul’s, Bristol Oxfordshire. Quartermile, Edinburgh St. Paul’s is one of the most deprived parts of Bristol An exceptional year for new retirement developments. Heartening to celebrate a development which is not and Ducrow Court is a key part of strategic efforts to The location is pleasant, the only problem being poor only of stunning architectural merit, but which regenerate the area. Knightstone takes gold for their public transport links. But once installed in Letcombe makes a striking contribution to the urban fabric of a willingness to take the risk and commit to helping Regis who would want to leave? The village is the World Heritage site. Quartermile in Edinburgh is an change the face of St. Paul’s, for supporting the largest yet for Richmond Villages and caters both for ambitious mixed use development on the site of the larger strategic regeneration of the city and for the active elderly, through to people needing 24 hour former Royal Infirmary. A development of this scale, upholding some of the most important objectives of nursing and dementia care. All accommodation is in and in this location, clearly demanded an outstanding shared ownership development - helping people who flats, but smart exterior design means that the design, and in the hands of its masterplanners, Foster would otherwise have little chance of owning a streetscapes appear to be housing rather than blocky & Partners, it has achieved just that. Quartermile is home to achieve their aspirations. The scheme has apartment buildings. One of the best innovations at not only a visual tour de force; it demonstrates that also acted as a catalyst, with private developers now Letcombe Regis is the effort made to bring the very new developments are capable of enhancing even the starting to build again in St. Paul’s. small village into the site. most precious of our historic townscapes.

BEST BROWNFIELD DEVELOPMENT BEST LANDSCAPE DESIGN Places for People Barratt Wolverton Park, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire Vizion, Milton Keynes These are extracts from the This development pays respect to the site’s rich Vizion is a landmark mixed-use development in the historical railway past that helped reinvent the area centre of Milton Keynes composed of 300 high Best New Homes in Britain – as a railway town during the industrial revolution. quality new sustainable homes, open spaces and the 2010 What House? Many of the original features of the Royal Train site, new commercial opportunities. The development which the development is constructed upon, have has created an upper level roof garden as the focus Awards judges report. To read been well maintained, including the historic Royal of the scheme above two floors of above ground car the full report go to Train Shed, elements of the Triangular building and parking. The attraction of the garden lies in its Grand Union canal. The Royal Train Shed is now simplicity, bold design and attractive planting www.whathouse.co.uk. home to stylish townhouses, which have built, very combined with the quality of execution. The result is cleverly, inside the shell of the original train shed. an extremely attractive and tranquil garden that is a Many of the original features of the building have pleasure to walk through or gaze upon from above been incorporated into the new homes. and which appears to be enjoyed by all.

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2010 what house? awards results what house? AWARDS 2010 results HOUSEBUILDER OF THE YEAR Bronze: SEVEN DEVELOPMENTS Silver: URBAN RENAISSANCE VILLAGES WESTON HOMES Gladiator, Sandbanks, Poole, Dorset Bramshott Place Village, Liphook, Hampshire Bronze: PEGASUS RETIREMENT HOMES BEST LARGE HOUSEBUILDER BEST RENOVATION Pegasus Court, Taunton, Somerset Gold: BERKELEY GROUP Gold: CITY & COUNTRY GROUP Bronze: AUDLEY RETIREMENT Silver: REDROW HOMES Old Saint Michaels, Braintree, Essex Clevedon Ilkley, Yorkshire Silver: BOVIS HOMES Silver: OCTAGON Bronze: Gordon House, Richmond, Surrey BEST BROWNFIELD DEVELOPMENT Bronze: MILLER HOMES Bronze: UNITED HOUSE Gold: PLACES FOR PEOPLE Bronze: HOMES Frobisher Crescent, Barbican, London EC2 Wolverton Park, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire Silver: BANNER HOMES BEST MEDIUM HOUSEBUILDER BEST DEVELOPMENT Posbrook Farm, Titchfield, Hampshire Gold: WESTON HOMES Gold: MANOR KINGDOM Bronze: WESTON HOMES Silver: URBAN SPLASH Kip Village, Inverkip, Renfrewshire Bridges Wharf, Battersea, SW London Silver: UNITED HOUSE Silver: UNITED HOUSE & LONDONEWCASTLE Bronze: MIDLAND HEART Bronze: CALA HOMES Arundel Square, London N7 Crocodile Works, Newtown, Birmingham Bronze: BANNER HOMES Bronze: GERALD WOOD HOMES Little Eaves, Plymouth, Devon BEST INTERIOR DESIGN BEST SMALL HOUSEBUILDER Bronze: ST JAMES Gold: OCTAGON Gold: MILLWOOD DESIGNER HOMES The Hamptons, Worcester Park, Surrey Selbourne Place, Weybridge, Surrey Silver: CITY & COUNTRY GROUP Silver: URBAN EVOLUTION Silver: ENVIRON COMMUNITIES BEST PARTNERSHIP SCHEME Dene Terrace, Chislehurst, Kent Bronze: HOWARTH HOMES Gold: MILLER HOMES Bronze: OAKMAYNE BESPOKE Bronze: STRONGVOX Miller Zero, Basingstoke, Hampshire Cornwall Terrace, Regent’s Park, London NW1 Silver: BARRATT BEST STARTER HOME Bluebell, Camp Hill, Nuneaton, West Midlands BEST EXTERIOR DESIGN Gold: DANDARA Bronze: MIDAS HOMES Gold: GLADEDALE CAPITAL Image, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire Evolve, Devonport, Devon Quartermile, Edinburgh Silver: ST JAMES Bronze: PLACES FOR PEOPLE Silver: ST JAMES Kennet Island, Reading, Berkshire St Thomas, London W10 The Hamptons, Worcester Park, Surrey Bronze: DANDARA Bronze: OCTAGON gh20, Glasgow BEST LUXURY DEVELOPMENT The Grand Terrace, Richmond Lock, SW London Bronze: WESTON HOMES Bronze: KINGENNIE FIELDS Morello Quarter, Basildon, Essex Kingennie Fields, Broughty Ferry, Dundee BEST LANDSCAPE DESIGN Gold: BARRATT BEST HOUSE BEST MIXED USE DEVELOPMENT Vizion, Milton Keynes Gold: URBAN EVOLUTION Gold: GLADEDALE CAPITAL Silver: ST JAMES Dene Terrace, Chislehurst, Kent Quartermile, Edinburgh Queen Mary’s Place, Roehampton Silver: AMA (NEWTOWN) Silver: THE HYDE GROUP Bronze: EXPLORE LIVING Caer Amon, Cramond, Edinburgh Hillside Hub, Stonebridge, NW London Grand Ocean, Brighton Bronze: ELYSIAN HOMES Bronze: COUNTRY & METROPOLITAN HOMES Kentish Gardens, Tunbridge Wells, Kent The Garrison, Shoeburyness, Essex BEST SMALL HOUSING ASSOCIATION Bronze: SERVITE HOUSING ASSOCIATION BEST APARTMENT SCHEME SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPER OF THE YEAR Gold: URBAN SPLASH Gold; BERKELEY GROUP BEST LARGE HOUSING ASSOCIATION Mills Bakery, Plymouth, Devon Gold: THAMES VALLEY HOUSING Silver: GLADEDALE CAPITAL BEST SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT Quartermile, Edinburgh Gold: MILLER HOMES BEST SHARED OWNERSHIP DEVELOPMENT Bronze: UNITED HOUSE & LONDONEWCASTLE Merton Rise, Basingstoke, Hampshire Gold: KNIGHTSTONE HOUSING ASSOCIATION Arundel Square, Islington, North London Silver: BARRATT Ducrow Court, St Paul’s, Bristol NU@D2, Upton, Northamptonshire Silver: THAMES VALLEY HOUSING BEST LUXURY HOUSE Bronze: BRIGHOUSE HOMES St Mary’s, Wantage Gold: OAKMAYNE BESPOKE The Gateway, Nantwich, Cheshire Silver: FAMILY MOSAIC Blackwood House, Cornwall Terrace, Regent’s Esprit Apartments @ Strata, Elephant & Castle, Park, London NW1 BEST RETIREMENT DEVELOPMENT London SE1 Silver: HERITAGE DESIGN & BUILD Gold: RICHMOND VILLAGES Bronze: CIRCLE ANGLIA Winterdown House, Blackhills, Esher, Surrey Letcombe Regis, Oxfordshire Outlook Place, Watford

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