Member Article

Regional winners hoping for national glory

A Sunderland architect is hoping to turn a regional award victory into national recognition.

Craig Fitzakerly, MD of Fitz Architects, was the designer behind the innovative Sinclair Meadows estate in South Shields, the project winning the sustainable development category in the Local Authority Building Control Excellence Awards earlier this year.

Now the project, the first carbon negative social housing development in the UK, has been entered into LABC’s national Building Excellence awards, which will take place at The Brewery in London on November 12.

Sinclair Meadows has already won a clutch of prestigious awards, and involved a project team including Four Housing Group, South Tyneside Council and Groundwork South Tyneside and Newcastle.

Craig said: “We are flattered to have been shortlisted for this prestigious national award. It is very rewarding to receive the recognition after putting so much hard work into the development.

“It was an interesting and challenging project to work on, but one which we’re very proud to have been part of.

“As a practice, we’re very interested in sustainable developments and Sinclair Meadows was at the forefront of new ideas and technology.

“Fuel poverty and rising energy prices have been very much in the news recently and it is going to be more and more important for architects to think about energy-efficient buildings and designs which will keep the bills down,” he added.

Top awards that the development has already won include: the Innovation Award in the Constructing Excellence in the North East 2013 Awards and the Best New Affordable Housing Scheme award at the Housing Excellence Awards in Manchester.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by CLINTON MYSLEYKO .