Beech: Bespoke and Urban Developer of the Year 2017

Beech Holdings was awarded ‘Bespoke and Urban Developer of the Year’ during the prestigious Insider North West Residential Property Awards ceremony.

The event, held last night (26 January) at Lancashire County Cricket Club, recognised the very best of the region’s housebuilders and residential property community. Other winners included JLL, Calderpeel Architects and Fred Story. Speaking in front of the near 600-strong audience, Insider’s editorial director Miri Thomas said: “The residential property market is well and truly hotting up in the North West. Plans for shiny city centre apartment schemes and smart housing developments are being unveiled every day it seems as the region rallies to meet demand and the government’s target of building one million homes by 2021.”

Below is a list of all the winners and categories:

Bespoke and Urban Developer of the Year

Winner: Beech Holdings

Beech Holdings has given life to a number of unloved buildings and judges were particularly impressed by the developer’s commitments to sustainability

Shortlisted: Capital & Centric, Moda Living

Sponsored by: Falconer Chester Hall

Residential Sales & Letting Agent of the Year

Winner: JLL

The breadth of sales and lettings achieved by JLL on a variety of different schemes was enough to sway Insider’s judges, who said the agency was not afraid to take on difficult schemes.

Shortlisted: City Residential, Petty Estate Agents

Sponsored by: Together

Residential Management Agent of the Year

Winner: urbanbubble

For this award, our judges looked for examples of effective property management strategies and customer service initiatives that benefit both tenants and landlords. With a growing list of clients and schemes, the judges said urbanbubble is a “true market leader in residential management”.

Shortlisted: JLL, X1 Lettings

Residential Contractor of the Year

Winner: Wiggett Construction Group

A family business which has seen off the recession to become one of the fastest-growing businesses in the North West, Wiggett has built its solid reputation over time and continues to deliver on a variety of projects.

Shortlisted: Lovell, Galliford Try

Sponsored by: MODA Living

Architect of the Year

Winner: Calderpeel Architects

Judges hailed Calderpeel’s attention to the landscape and admired its wealth of “appropriate beautifully designed” schemes of varying sizes.

Shortlisted: OMI Architects, Falconer Chester Hall

Sponsored by: Lovell Partnerships

Public / Private Partnership of the Year

Winner: Hyndburn Borough Council and PlaceFirst (Woodnock, Accrington)

Described by the judges as a ‘leap of faith’, the £15.5m partnership saw more than 150 empty homes remodelled and refurbished and as well as a range of public space improvements. This brought an economic lift to a deprived neighbourhood of Accrington.

Shortlisted: Story Homes, HCA, Preston City Council and Lancashire County Council (Waterside, Preston)

Regeneration Liverpool (Norris Green Village)

Sponsored by: Delph Property Group

Deal of the Year (including PRS)

Winner: Kampus (Capital & Centric, Henry Boot Developments)

Capital & Centric and Henry Boot’s £225m deal with Ares will fund the Kampus scheme in Manchester city centre. The judges chose Kampus because of the size and complexity of the deal and its impact on Manchester and the Northern Powerhouse.

Highly commended: Port Street (Mulbury)

Shortlisted: Barnes Village, Cheadle (Natwest), Angel Gardens (Moda Living), Greengate, Salford (JLL)

Sponsored by: Pegasus Group

Housing Development of the Year

Winner: hoUSe (Urban Splash)

Judges were won over by the “innovative and pioneering thinking” of Urban Splash’s modular housing concept as a way of addressing the UK’s housing crisis.

Highly commended: West End One, Morecambe (PlaceFirst)

Shortlisted: Norris Green Village (Sigma), Chorlton Villas (First Step), New Brunswick (Galliford Try Partnerships / Linden Homes)

Sponsored by: Galliford Try Partnerships

Urban Residential and PRS Development of the Year

Winner: Greengate, Salford (OMI Architects, Renaker Build, LaSalle Investment Management, JLL)

The judging panel said LaSalle Investment Management’s scheme in the Greengate area of Salford was a strong example of PRS delivery.

Shortlisted: 25 Cross Street (Beech Holdings), Clippers Quay, Salford Quays (Amstone Venture)

Sponsored by: Barton Willmore

Housebuilder of the Year

Winner: Story Homes

As Story continues to grow, it was hard for our judges to look past the company’s breadth of high-quality schemes across the region.

Shortlisted: Redrow Homes, Urban Splash

Sponsored by: GL Hearn

Student Accommodation Development of the Year

Winner: Peel Park Quarter, Salford (Sheppard Robson)

The £81m development includes nine residential blocks as well as a gym, laundrette and conference facilities. The judges said this challenging project has “reinvigorated the Salford campus”.

Shortlisted: 3 Crofton Street (Beech Holdings), Fontenoy Street/Byrom Street, Liverpool (Falconer Chester Hall)

Planning Team of the Year

Winner: NJL Consulting

Our judges said NJL’s collaborative approach to planning set them apart. The company works heavily with councils and other parties to build support for residential schemes.

Shortlisted: P4 Planning, Cassidy + Ashton, Deloitte, Euan Kellie Property Solutions

Sponsored by: Redrow Homes

Residential Property Personality of the Year

Winner: Fred Story, Story Homes

With a career in property spanning 30 years and a spell in football, judges hailed Fred Story as the “man of the match” on the night. Fred Story founded Story Construction Ltd in 1987 after cutting his teeth as an engineer and contracts manager with two Carlisle-based companies. He’s had an illustrious career that has also taken him outside the property sector, with a spell as the owner of Carlisle United from 2004 to 2008. Today Story Homes has ambition to become one of the top 25 UK housebuilders.

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