The LABC Regional Building Excellence Awards take place to recognise works undertaken within each LABC district. To be eligible, a building project will have been inspected by a Local Authority Building Control team (not an approved inspector) and works should be completed within the previous 12 months.

The categories that projects can be entered under are:

1. Site based:

• Best extension or alteration to an existing home
• Best change of use of an existing building or conversion
• Best individual new home
• Best new housing development
• Best social or affordable new housing development
• Best public service building
• Best educational building
• Best commercial project
• Best inclusive building

2. Best local builder or traditional crafts person

3. Best partnership with a local authority building control team

4. Best LABC construction professional

In 2020, Warwick-based AC Lloyd entered the awards in the Best Social or Affordable New Housing Development category for its work in phases one, two and three at Station Approach in Leamington.

The £22 million project involved AC Lloyd collaborating with Warwick District Council and Platform Housing Group to create two-and-three-bedroom homes and apartments on a site which dates back nearly 400 years near Leamington Spa Station.

This landmark development, which is located near Leamington Spa Railway Station and is one of the first buildings visitors see when arriving in the town, was acquired by Platform Housing Association for social housing, and it took two years to agree terms with Network Rail, HCA, WDC and Stagecoach to acquire the other parts of the next-door site.

During the planning stages, AC Lloyd spoke regularly to WDC’s building control and environmental health teams about all the elements involved including the ventilation systems to be installed in the flats and homes because of concerns about noise and pollution from the railway station. A system has been installed which controls the right air flow if residents don’t want to open their windows.

By concentrating on energy efficiency, AC Lloyd ensured that the resultant reduction in energy demand will be effective for the life of the building (about 60 years) as opposed to some renewables which lose efficiency relatively quickly and are costly to maintain or replace (an approximate 25-year life span max), also using the fabric improvements which save energy as opposed to creating energy to compensate for poorly insulted dwellings.

At the height of construction when 125 staff and sub-contractors were on-site, AC Lloyd had four site managers because of the nature of the scheme – two to oversee the apartment blocks and two to oversee the social housing which needed to be managed by the HSE particularly when the public and workforce were there during the day-to-day operations of the site.

Lifts have been installed in four of the main apartment blocks so that they are fully accessible for all users. There are eight apartments per block in phase one which also include access ramps and everywhere has a level threshold.

All the doors are wide enough for wheelchair users so the design not only complies with building regulations but exceeds them, and there are also four purely disabled properties – two apartments and two social houses.

All the high-quality affordable homes are now let and only shared ownership properties are available and the development, which is within walking distance of the Parade shopping centre, also includes a 100-space car-park which includes electric charging points.

The complexity of the site from day one meant this couldn’t have been achieved without regular dialogue and co-operation from WDC’s building control team and it has been a true partnership.

AC Lloyd was delighted to win the West Midlands region of the LABC Building Excellence Awards 2020 for the Best Social or Affordable New Housing Development particularly since it was the first time the business had entered the awards.