LABC Building Excellence Awards 2021 winner: Best Medium Volume New Housing Development

More than 750 leading construction industry figures attended the LABC Building Excellence Awards at the Westminster Park Plaza Hotel to acclaim best practise, quality and standards in construction.

These were the first Building Excellence Awards since 2019 following the global pandemic and LABC has revised the awards to focus more on professional skills and competence – dividing the awards into two: ‘people’ and ‘places’.

A panel of industry experts judged a list of the highest quality projects and teams from around England and Wales to showcase solutions to complex technical or construction issues, site constraints, technical innovation and the building control professionalism that leads to safe, sustainable and high quality construction projects.  

LABC is delighted to announce the winner of the Best Medium Volume New Housing Development is The Rise, Harden, Bingley, West Yorkshire.

The judges understood the project’s name – The Rise – was a nod to its difficult topography. The site, formerly coal sheds, sloped very steeply upward, which presented a significant challenge that needed to be overcome when designing the homes. As a result, both homes and gardens were designed with the use of split levels, providing more usable space, making the gardens easier to manage and maximising natural light throughout the day. The latter part of this project took place during the pandemic, so the well-established, respectful working relationships between the team and LABC meant that all parties were able to adapt swiftly and find new, productive ways of working. Thanks to this the project met all the milestones and requirements despite the unprecedented constraints of COVID-19.

Congratulating the team, Lorna Stimpson, LABC Chief Executive said,