Master
Builder of the Year Awards
An amazing transformation of a run of the mill
1960s house in a village near Leicester into a light-filled
5-bedroom contemporary cedar-clad family home won Ellis & Hughes the
title of Master Builder of the Year 2008.
The Leicester firm beat the best of Britain’s builders from every
corner of the UK, all of whom had been nominated by their clients
for the first class quality of their craftsmanship and customer
service, in this national competition, organised by the Federation
of Master Builders in association with Nissan. Ellis & Hughes also
win the Nissan Light Commercial Vehicle of their choice worth up to
£20,000.
Amongst the other award winners were:
An energy efficiency makeover on a London townhouse won Earthdome
Ltd the energy saving category,
An octagonal tree house built around an oak tree won Spey Building &
Joinery Ltd, Kingussie, the new homes category,
A Polish builder who loved his Scottish clients’ native Aberfeldy so
much that he upped sticks from Birmingham and moved there, won the
Heavenly Builder category,
A bricklayer from Staines took the title 2008 Apprentice of the
Year.
The winners were presented with their Awards by Naomi Cleaver,
presenter of C4 Grand Designs Trade Secrets at the Royal Lancaster
Hotel in London on Thursday 13th November in front of nearly 600
guests.
Details of The Master Builder of the Year, Apprentice of the Year
and the nine national category winners follow.
Master Builder of the Year 2008
Builder: Ellis & Hughes, Leicester
Client: Elaine and Patrick Mulvihill
Project
The Master Builder of the Year title was awarded to Ellis & Hughes
for turning an
unattractive, awkwardly laid out 1960s house into a stunning
5-bedroom
contemporary-style, cedar clad home, including the addition of
feature A frame
windows and loft balconies front and back to exploit their amazing
parkland views.
Clients Elaine and Patrick Mulvihill and family bought their home in
Newton Linford, Leicestershire on the advice of builder Kevin Ellis
of Ellis & Hughes, who worked in complete partnership with them,
sharing their vision, and helping them realise their dream.
An ex-teacher who switched to building 27 years ago, Kevin Ellis
describes his team as ‘a creative bunch who really love their work,’
and explains that this project was really exciting for them because
the clients gave them a free rein and allowed their creativity to
flow.
Says Patrick Mulvihill: “Every family in the country can relate to
our example – a typical family with a pleasant but uninspiring
house, who have aspirations of creating a dream home. All we needed
was a great builder to make it happen.
“Ellis & Hughes listened to our wish list and worked with us and the
local community to produce and execute a stunning design, completing
the scheme on time, on budget, and with the greatest respect for
both ourselves and our neighbours. Our family love this house, and
that’s why we are delighted that Ellis and Hughes is Master Builder
of the Year,” Patrick added.
As Master Builder of the Year 2008, Ellis & Hughes not only takes
the coveted title, but also the Nissan Light Commercial Vehicle of
their choice courtesy of Nissan Motor (GB) Ltd. Their clients Elaine
and Patrick Mulvihill and family will jet away on a fabulous £3,000
holiday.
Apprentice of the Year 2008 (Supported by ConstructionSkills &
Screwfix Direct)
Apprentice: Matthew Bracken
Employer: John Lewis General Building & Landscaping, Staines
Middlesex,
A worthy winner of the 2008 Apprentice of the Year, Matthew Bracken
is described by his tutor at East Berkshire College as ‘nothing
short of amazing’ and by his employer John Lewis as “by far the best
apprentice I have ever had.”
The Master Builder of the Year Award judges were in no doubt that
Matthew’s ability, attitude and enthusiasm were examples of exactly
the sort of apprentice who will help improve the reputation of the
construction industry amongst other young people. They were
delighted to be able to reward an apprentice who shows such
dedication and determination coupled with excellent communication
skills.
Matthew won first place in the Skillbuild Regional Competition 2008
and second place in the same competition last year: “We are
impressed not just by Matthew’s trade skills, evidenced by his
success in competition and his grades, but also by his enthusiasm
and spirit of community that shines through in the nomination. He
will, without doubt, be a great addition to the construction
industry,” they said.
As Apprentice of the Year, Matthew Bracken wins £1,000.
National Category prize winners
Category 1: New homes (supported by NHBC)
Builder: Spey Building & Joinery Ltd, Kingussie, Invernesshire
Client: Donald and Susie Hutchison
Donald and Susie Hutchison’s vision was to create an octagonal tree
house, within an 18th century orchard in the garden of their
beautiful listed Argyll home, that looked as if it had always been
there.
After many months of planning and preparation, painstaking recycling
and careful construction, Angus Reid-Evans and Spey Building &
Joinery Ltd created an outstanding tree-top home that combines both
technical excellence and fine traditional craftsmanship, delivered
on time and on budget.
Client Donald summed up: “Angus and his team were absolutely
excellent. The quality of work, his attitude, and the rapport
between us - he worked at everything, and everything was done
beautifully. It was a most rewarding period and, while delighted
with our tree house, we were terribly sad when it was all over.”
Category 2: Small renovation (supported by Hilti and Professional
Builder magazine)
Builder: T J Pybus Construction, Garforth, Leeds
Client: Yvonne Poole
A small extension to a 300-year-old stone cottage may sound like a
modest project, but the diplomacy skills, the quality of work and
the customer care and attention lavished on this beautiful, highly
professional job won the unanimous vote of the judges.
“Tom Pybus and his team ticked all the boxes,” said client Yvonne.
“They knew what they needed to do and just got on with it. The came
in on budget, the quality of their work was fantastic and they were
also so courteous - they were just really professional, lovely
people.”
Category 3: Medium renovation (supported by British Gypsum and
Travis Perkins)
The Master Builder of the Year 2008 Ellis & Hughes, Leicester, won
this category.
Category 4: Large renovation (supported by Velux & Buildstore)
Builder: K J S Construction, Stroud, Gloucestershire
Client: Simon & Andrea England
The Englands bought a dilapidated Cotswold farmhouse and adjoining
barn with the aim of creating their dream five-bedroom family home
with a separate guesthouse for visiting family and friends. Set in a
conservation area in the Cotswold hills, the farmhouse, which dates
from the 1880s, needed total renovation including re-roofing, while
the adjoining barn required new foundations and extensive rebuilding
to create the guesthouse.
Kevin Smith of KJS Construction achieved a beautiful seamless
renovation and is now described by the Englands as “our builder for
life.”
Category 5: Commercial (supported by AON and Sage)
Builder: EJ & GJ Groom, Church Stretton, Shropshire
Client: Holy Trinity Church Community Group
Local Shropshire family firm EJ and GJ Groom may have won the job to
build The Trinity Centre, a community centre adjoining the Grade II*
listed Holy Trinity Church, on price, but they also won over the
whole 10,000–strong parish of Meole Brace in Shrewsbury with the
quality and craftsmanship of the work, as well as their excellent
site management and collaborative attitude.
The result is a high quality building that blends a modern design
with traditional appeal, providing a perfect complement to the
beautiful original Church.
Category 6: Energy efficiency (supported by The
Energy Saving Trust and Homebuilding and Renovating)
Builder: Earthdome Ltd, Teddington, Middlesex
Client: Steve Mills
London builder Earthdome Ltd was tasked with turning a down-at-heel,
energy guzzling 1960s East Twickenham townhouse into a
future-proofed, low carbon, healthy family home, as a model for the
eco-upgrading of similar housing stock.
Not only have Earthdome Ltd upgraded the entire building fabric,
installed a carbon neutral heating system and totally reworked the
internal layout to extend the property over three floors, they have
also created a stylish, sustainable family home which has doubled
the value of the property. Bought for £400,000 – it increased to
£800,000!
Upgrading the property’s environmental performance means that the
home no longer uses gas, while the electricity and water consumption
has been reduced by 50%.
Category 7: Waste minimisation practices (supported by Envirowise)
Builder: English Construction, Bowbrook, Shrewsbury
English Construction managed to save around £18,000 through waste
minimisation techniques in their latest project, an 18-bed extension
to a care home for the elderly in Morda, Oswestry.
With waste minimisation as one of the core tenets of the business,
the company has become so waste-efficient that over the 18-month
construction period, they only filled 2 skip loads of rubbish. They
were also able to sell on 900 tonnes of topsoil removed from the
site, making money on this rather than paying to dispose of waste
soil.
Category 8: Heavenly Builder (supported by B&CE Benefit Schemes and
HBXL)
Builder: Janusz Jolkowicz, John Services Building & Joinery,
Aberfeldy, Perthshire
Client: Bill and Lou Oppenheim
Polish-born builder Janusz Jolkowicz, 41, was the only builder
willing to take on the job of building a guest house on the sloping,
exposed mountainside of Lou and Bill Oppenheim’s home in Perthshire.
He even moved his business from Birmingham to the west coast of
Scotland to do so!
Within half an hour of starting, Janusz had built a wooden chute to
transport materials down the steep slope to the building site.
Undeterred by the lack of access for machinery, Janusz hand dug the
foundations through rock and mud. Despite appalling weather
conditions, he battled on, protected from the wind and rain only by
a tarpaulin, with the site lit by a storm lamp.
The result of his hard work and high quality workmanship is a
stunning guesthouse with amazing views.
Category 9 Category Nine – Investment in Workforce Training and
Development (supported by CSCS)
Organisation: Conlon Construction Ltd, Preston, Lancashire
This category was introduced this year as part of the FMB’s
commitment to improving the competence and qualifications of those
working in the construction industry.
The national winner, Preston-based Conlon Construction, employs over
100 people on both private and public sector contracts and provides
a wide range of training for its employees, averaging 7 days for
every employee each year.
With a 400% increase in turnover over the past five years, it is
easy to see that the investment Conlon Construction has made and
continues to make in its workforce training is helping the business
to be more robust and in the best shape possible to survive and
thrive.
The winners of the National Category Awards and their clients each
won all inclusive luxury UK weekend breaks for two at any of the UK
Barceló Hotels.
Master Builder of the Year 2008 is organised by the Federation of
Master Builders in association with Nissan Motor (GB) Ltd, and in
partnership with Aon Ltd, B&CE Benefit Schemes, Barceló Hotels,
British Gypsum Ltd, BuildStore, ConstructionSkills, CSCS, HBXL,
Hilti, Velux, Homebuilding and Renovating, NHBC, Energy Saving
Trust, Envirowise, Professional Builder magazine, Sage (UK) Ltd,
Screwfix Direct, Travis Perkins, Master Builder magazine and the
Cross Industry Construction Apprenticeships Task Force (CCATF).