Building for Life: call for entries

With entries from London and the South East usually dominating the awards, we're calling for more entries from high-quality schemes from across the country.

Launching the call for entries for the next round of Building for Life awards, its chair Wayne Hemingway highlighted the lack of winning schemes outside the South and called for more high-quality schemes from across the country to be submitted.

In the past four years, over 40 schemes have gained a Building for Life Standard award. London and the South East have dominated the awards to date, with only one gold winner in the North West and one in the North East. Designer Wayne Hemingway said:

'After four years, there is a revealing north/south divide with only four of the 22 gold standard winners outside the south of England. I'd like to know why northerners are getting such a bad deal when it comes to housing!'.

The top five winning developers to date are Countryside Properties, Berkeley Group, Crest Nicholson, Taylor Woodrow and Urban Splash, with Countryside Properties and the Berkeley Group winning five awards and the others winning three each.

'Smaller house builders should not be put off by the big names in the winners list. Only 14 of the awards have been won by top 12 volume house builders,' continued Wayne Hemingway. 'I can't stress enough that the Building for Life Standard applies to all house builders that embrace quality design and common sense. I've seen some examples of truly pioneering design from smaller firms that could give the large house builders a run for their money.'