Sustainability and design excellence for Hertfordshire get top billing at awards night

The importance of responsible and sustainable growth took centre stage as the 2021 Hertfordshire Building Futures Awards were held at Knebworth Barns on 21 October.

The Flint House development in Watton-at-Stone won Project of the Year – one of four main awards handed out on the night – at an event which celebrates sustainability, innovation and design excellence. An additional prize, the Special Landscape Design Award, was won by Oxhey Activity Park also in the Project of the Year category – this development being for Watford Borough Council.

Flint House, which was also rated as Highly Commended in the Most Sustainable Construction category, was in the line-up of 10 nominees at the ceremony across all of the awards, for which Hertfordshire Growth Board was the headline sponsor. These developments included individual houses, public buildings and housing schemes.

Led by Hertfordshire County Council, Building Futures is a partnership of nine of the county’s local authorities. There were also awards for Design Excellence and Design Excellence – Housing Development, with all of the finalists making the shortlist as they were considered exceptional buildings and sustainable projects.

The awards ceremony was preceded by the inaugural Building Futures Conference, at which Richard Roberts – Leader of Hertfordshire County Council and Chair of Hertfordshire Growth Board – was among the speakers, and he said:

“I would like to congratulate all of the winners and finalists on their achievements. These schemes strongly symbolise and represent our ethos of delivering the high quality and sustainable developments needed for our growing population over the coming years.

“In Hertfordshire, we’re showing how important and beneficial a close working relationship with the development and construction industry can be – the creation of the Hertfordshire Infrastructure and Development Board is testament to that – as we also make sure we put the right infrastructure in place to achieve the cleaner, greener and healthier county that we are striving for.”

Full list of awards winners and finalists:

Most Sustainable Construction (award sponsored by Green Building Design Consultants)

Bayford Grange, Bayford – Winner

Flint House, Watton-at-Stone – Highly Commended

Osborne Park, Little Heath

Design Excellence (award sponsored by BCM B2B Cognitive Marketing agency)

Osborne Park, Little Heath – Winner

The Drive, Rickmansworth – Highly Commended

Flint House, Watton-at-Stone

Oxhey Activity Park, Watford

The Grove, Chandler’s Cross

Design Excellence – Housing Development (award sponsored by BCM B2B Cognitive Marketing agency)