‘Building Oscar’ for The Place in Groby

The Place, George Wimpey’s development of new homes in Groby, Leicestershire has won two prestigious awards for design and construction quality.

At the regional Local Authority Building Control (LABC) Building Excellence Awards ceremony, the team behind The Place collected the East Midlands Best Large Housing Site title.

The development has also just won a National House Building Council (NHBC) Quality Award.

Mark Dinsdale, Design & Planning Executive for George Wimpey East Midlands, says: “It’s a real honour to have our work recognised, and in the LABC competition we were up against some strong regional candidates.

“However, the judges were particularly impressed by the way we made sure homes at The Place are sympathetic to the Conservation Area we were working in, and to the historic motte-and-bailey castle site adjacent to the development.

“The houses are bespoke designs created especially for this unique location, and we used a selection of reclaimed building materials from a former property in the village, including granite stone walling and Swithland slate, all mined locally.”

Once the plans and designs were approved, Site Manager Dave Holland was responsible for co-ordinating work on the new homes with the builders and designers, conservation officers, and planners, highways officials and archaeologists from the borough and county councils.

“Because of the small scale of the development, and the Conservation Area surrounding it, were working in quite a restricted area which meant everything on site had to be kept extremely tidy at all times!” explains Dave.

“The bespoke architectural designs meant we were building elevations and rooflines which were quite new to us, and I did research old fashioned methods of building stone walls, including going along to see a local stone mason at work.

“It was challenging but very enjoyable and rewarding in its own right too – the building awards we received were the icing on the cake!”

The Place development comprises just 24 homes, including apartments and family-size houses.

Just one of the designs which helped the George Wimpey team collect the Building Excellence Award is the four-bedroom ‘Hallaton Cottage’ at Plot 1 of the development, a superb stone-built home characterised by an exceptional kitchen/breakfast and family/dining room with French doors to the rear garden, a spacious living room also with doors to the garden, a guest cloakroom and entrance hallway.

Upstairs, the landing leads to four bedrooms – one with en-suite facilities – a study and the family bathroom.

Despite their traditional architectural features, the new homes enjoy contemporary high standards, including gas central heating, double glazing and a fitted kitchen with built-in oven, hob and hood.

Four-bedroom homes at The Place are available from £189,995, while customers can also choose one-bedroom apartments from just £79,995.

The Place, surrounded by picturesque countryside, enjoys a good position within the well-served village of Groby, yet is also less than five miles from the shops and attractions of Leicester.

Groby has two small supermarkets, a butcher’s, a hardware store, a newsagent, a Post Office, a pharmacy, and a delicatessen. Other amenities include a library, a community centre, a village hall, two take-away food outlets, a pub and two hairdressers.

Further information is available by visiting the Sales Centre, located off Newtown Linford Lane, Groby, and open Thursday to Monday from 10.30am to 5.30pm, and online at Georgewimpey.co.uk.