Project at Fern House, Bingley wins at 2018 LABC Building Excellence Awards Grand Final

The site at Fern House, Bingley, West Yorkshire, constructed by Bardsley Construction Ltd, designed by Brewster Bye Architects for The Abbeyfield Society and nominated by the building control team from Bradford Metropolitan District Council was awarded the title of Best Social or Affordable New Housing Development at the Grand Finals of the LABC Building Excellence Awards – one of the most recognised events on the building industry’s calendar.

A panel of industry experts judged a shortlist of the highest quality projects from around England and Wales to reward the best in technical innovation, sustainability and design. The 7-storey project to create Extra Care and Dementia Housing was both complex and innovative.

At a total construction cost of £11.5m the project, which provides high quality and spacious living accommodation, posed many challenges which required a close working relationship between the building control team, the architects and the contractor.

The development is “dementia friendly” throughout and technical innovations include the incorporation of a sprinkler mist system and the use of aluminium/timber composite windows, aluminium curtain walling and gutters to reduce building maintenance.

The development has successfully integrated locally, bringing back into use a large vacant site, providing many new jobs for local people and enabling ageing Bingley residents to remain within their community.

LABC Chief Executive Paul Everall said: “Our building excellence awards are an opportunity for the industry to celebrate good practice. Our winners demonstrate how positive working relationships with local council building control teams achieve high quality, sustainable buildings.

"Our awards are unique because they recognise how this cooperation improves building standards and professionalism across the industry.”

The panel of expert judges said “this project not only provided high quality and spacious living accommodation on a steeply sloping site but also posed numerous complex challenges which were effectively overcome. The construction process itself brought benefits to the Bingley area using local labour and setting up an apprenticeship scheme.”

The Grand Finals of the LABC Building Excellence Awards took place on Friday 9 November 2018 at the Westminster Park Plaza in London and was hosted by Dead Ringers star, comedian and impressionist Jon Culshaw.

A record 860 building industry professionals including contractors, architects and engineers attended the celebration to find out which projects won across the 15 hotly contested categories.

About the LABC Building Excellence Awards

The LABC Building Excellence Awards showcase buildings and design teams that have had to tussle with complex technical or construction issues and building site constraints.

They highlight innovative and creative solutions and building control professionalism that leads to safe, sustainable and high quality construction projects.