Award will go to housing that rescued buildings

The conversions of a former pub, a brewery and a grand Victorian house are the three housing schemes in the Large Residential category of the 2016 ProCon Leicestershire property and construction awards.

Each of the three projects – in Tur Langton, Sileby and Oadby – have created several homes from derelict or disused buildings.

The category, sponsored by Infrastructure Investments, is one of six in this year’s ProCon Awards. The ProCon Awards’ overall sponsors are Spearing Waite, Unique Window Systems, Westleigh Partnerships and Salus Approved Inspectors. The Leicester Mercury is the Awards’ media partner.

The Large Residential Scheme of the Year finalists are:

Brooks House, Oadby, submitted by Goliath Developments

Brooks House is the high specification conversion of the former Victorian house Oadby Hill into 11 apartments set in generous and picturesque grounds.

Constructed in the mid 19th Century for WE Hutchinson, a former director of The Midland Railway, the building had been used as a company’s offices for around 30 years.

The site was acquired in 2013 and all the apartments were sold and occupied by spring 2016. Sales values exceeded £250 per square foot; a new benchmark for apartment living in Oadby.

The Maltings, Sileby, submitted by Hazelton Homes

The Maltings in Sileby delivers the character of a period property with the specification and energy ratings of a modern home.

Derelict for two decades and an eyesore in the middle of the Leicestershire village of Sileby, the 1860s brewery has been totally transformed into 11 town houses and 10 apartments.

Designed to create a cohesive community and attract buyers from all rungs of the property ladder, the plots ranged from one to five bedrooms and prices from £100,000 to more than £300,000.

Six Houses, Tur Langton, submitted by Stephen George and Partners

A derelict pub in a Conservation Area was replaced by six new houses in the village of Tur Langton.

The former Bull’s Head was next to a Grade II listed building and partially outside the village’s development boundary but a design was carefully crafted that won approval and enabled the sympathetic development.

There is a terrace of three three-bedroom houses echoing the footprint of the original pub along the front of the site. Behind are three five-bedoom detached houses.

James Boyle, director of the award’s sponsor Infrastructure Investments, said: “We’re proud to be sponsoring ProCon’s residential awards, which celebrate the achievements of the developers, architects and contractors who are making dwellings that people like living in now and will like long into the future.

“The creation of new housing should bring out the best in design and construction, so these finalists deserve our congratulations and we look forward to celebrating with the winners at the ProCon Awards ceremony.”

The winner will be announced at a November ceremony at Leicester’s King Power Stadium.

The other five awards are:

• Regeneration Project of the Year, sponsored by Cambridge & Counties Bank
• Small Residential Scheme of the Year, sponsored by Infrastructure Investments
• Small Non-residential Scheme of the Year, sponsored by Edward Cooper Young Chartered Surveyors
• Large Non-residential Scheme of the Year, sponsored by Edward Cooper Young Chartered Surveyors
• Sustainable Development of the Year, sponsored by EME Installations