The Awards Ceremony – dubbed the Oscars of the housebuilding industry – was held at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London and hosted by Olympian Sir Chris Hoy and sports broadcaster and presenter Clare Balding.
We won the Best Partnership Scheme alongside West Oxfordshire District Council for our joint initiative delivering affordable housing at our new Park View development in Woodstock.
Typically, affordable rental properties are let at a 20% discount to market rent, but we have devised a model that enables discounts up to 40% of the current market rent to be offered to tenants.
Commenting on the development, the judges said: "The scheme is an incredibly sophisticated layout that provides constant, and constantly changing, visual stimulus.
"The varied house plans are well-planned and spacious and the finishes of high quality. Additionally, the quality of building and specification is outstanding, with the use of handcut local Burford stone, windows made from sustainably sourced solid timber and aluminium downpipes utilised to minimise the use of plastic.
“In every way, Park View is an exemplar scheme that other housebuilders would be wise to visit. To walk around this beautifully landscaped development is an unexpected joy."
Located on the eastern edge of Woodstock, half of Park View’s 300 properties will be made available as affordable homes.
"The WhatHouse? Awards are recognised throughout the industry so for the judges to have described Park View as an exemplar scheme is incredibly rewarding," said Roger File, our Property Director and COO.
“We hope the success of this joint initiative with WODC to address the housing crisis can be repeated across the country,” he added.
Earlier this year the initiative was also voted Public/Private Partnership of the Year at the Estates Gazette Awards.
WODC Councillor Merilyn Davies, Cabinet Member for Communities and Housing said: “Park View is an amazing example of how successful public private partnerships can be in responding to the huge shortage of affordable housing.
"I want us to go further and lower rents even further, while exploring ways to expand the scheme to all residents. I hope other developers will look at the success of this model and see they too can make a profit while also providing truly affordable homes for the community they build in," she added.