South Coast Property Awards 2024: winners revealed

Winners across 15 categories were honoured at the seventh annual South Coast Property Awards. The outstanding line-up of finalists made judging as tough as ever.

The high standard of firms and individuals who have stood out in the past 12 months produced an impressive list of nearly 60 finalists. Independent judges helped ensure the selection process was thorough and fair.

The Awards brought together developers, agents, planners, consultants, property lawyers and dealmakers to recognise the achievers.

Highlighting a notable recent trend, Richard Thompson, Chief Executive at The Business Magazine, said: “Companies are becoming used to new ways of working, with technology bearing the strain for the hybrid working practices of most businesses.

“The move from fully remote working has meant a need for flexible, high-quality office space resulting in the significant growth of that market.”

The Awards’ headline sponsor was Amiri Construction. The other sponsors were AECOM, Lester Aldridge, MSP Capital, Cobweb Solutions, South Coast CPS, LGCS Fitout, The Escape, Eddisons incorporating Daniells Harrison, Blake Morgan, Gracelands, Barratt Developments, Goadsby and SHW. In addition, Moore Barlow sponsored the drinks reception and event programmes.

This year’s charity was Hannah’s Holiday Home Appeal, which supports children’s oncology wards by providing families with free holiday breaks. On the night, generous donations totalled over £3,400.

Comedian Simon Evans hosted the lively proceedings with his trademark curmudgeonly wit.

And the winners are…

Commercial Landlord of the Year – sponsored by Eddisons incorporating Daniells Harrison

Winner: Portsmouth City Council, Lakeside North Harbour

“We focus on three things: wellbeing, our community and the environment. People expect more from their workplace than just being somewhere to work. They want to be excited about coming to work and we offer lots of activities to bring our community together. On the environment side, we are installing a solar panel car park canopy that will provide at least 65% of the energy on site when fully installed. This is a major project by Portsmouth City Council to hit its 2030 net zero target.” Emma Parkin, Marketing Manager, Lakeside North Harbour

Finalists:

• Arena Offices

• University of Southampton Science Park

Workplace of the Year – sponsored by LGCS Fitout

Winner: FOUNDRY, L&G Real Assets

“Working at the Foundry gives people a community and engagement - we call it the Foundry Factor. It's not about them coming here for the headspace, but building a community of people who can help and support each other. We help businesses to grow as a collective. Working from home is a 'grey' area and people miss the 'black and white' of going to work, getting it done, then coming home and switching off. We have people who started coming here one day a week who now do three days. We have a mix of larger companies using our offices for their staff and individuals starting their own business,” Ema Armstrong, General Manager, The Foundry

Finalists:

• Clockwise Southampton

• Lakeside North Harbour

• Ridge & Partners

Property Law Firm of the Year – sponsored by Goadsby

Winner: Lester Aldridge

“About one-third of our business is property: we're one of central south's largest real estate practices. Around a third of this work is real estate finance, which is a growth area for us. We are also building up our specialism in affordable homes. As part of our drive to be one of the best employers in the area, we appointed a Head of People to help make sure employees have everything they need. The last year has seen a tough market but it has been really good for us and we are looking to grow by more than 10% next year.” Mark Benham, Head of Real Estate, Lester Aldridge

Finalists:

• Glanvilles Legal Services

• Scott Bailey

• Steele Raymond

Property Agency of the Year, Commercial – sponsored by Cobweb Solutions

Winner: Lambert Smith Hampton

“The most important thing to us is advising clients on how to maximise the value of their assets. With over 50% market share, we have the experience and knowledge to do this. There have been some challenges in the last year, with uncertainty over the economy, the cost-of-living crisis and high energy prices, but the south coast has always been quite resilient.” Elise Evans, Director, Lambert Smith Hampton

Finalists:

• Keygrove Chartered Surveyors

• Omega RE

• Realest

• Vail Williams

Property Agency of the Year, Residential – sponsored by Cobweb Solutions

Winner: Charters

“We have a large and growing property portfolio and use innovative technology to manage it. We developed our own software, FixFlow, to help tenants in areas like regulatory requirements. Being a trusted ally to clients is important to us. A testament to that is the number of five-star reviews we receive from customers. It has been a fantastic year for us, especially with mortgage rates coming down in January and February, although they haven’t come down as much since then. But an early general election is good for us and we see the rest of the year positively as house prices are on the up again.” George Long, Managing Director, Land & New Homes, Charters

Finalists:

• Henshaw Fox Estate Agency

• Merriebank Lettings

• Tailor Made Estate Agents

Housebuilder the Year – sponsored by Lester Aldridge

Winner: AJC Group

“We are always very community focused. In every development, we reach out to local schools, work with local hospitals and organisations, getting people involved in a development. For example, local schoolchildren chose the name of one development and it’s initiatives like this that give people a sense of ownership in it. Our ESG focus encourages an interaction between staff and local people and we can all learn from the experience.” Natalie Gomez, Client Relations Manager, Hannah Bentley, Operations Manager, AJC Group

Finalists:

• Bargate Homes

• Churchill Retirement Living

• Foreman Homes Group

Architectural Practice of the Year – sponsored by The Escape

Winner: Snug Architects

“The judges said we are diverse and versatile in our projects. I think that’s because me and my business partner, Ben, are at opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to skillsets and this runs through the practice. We ‘design’ and we ‘do’. We are focused on ESG and I think it is getting easier to be because regulations have caught up with aspirations. And we are people focused – we work hard to engage with end users of buildings, for example, through workshops. You need to have a lot of empathy with end users.” Paul Bulkeley, Design Director and founder, Snug Architects

Finalists:

• Mh Architects

• Noviun Architects

• Stride Treglown

• Western Design Architects

Regeneration Project of the Year – sponsored by AECOM

Winner: Livingstone Academy Bournemouth - Noviun Architects

“About 75% of our work is in the education sector. We also work in leisure and healthcare. For Livingstone Academy, we needed to have great sympathy towards the heritage of the building while also fitting modern teaching requirements into the existing infrastructure. We had a challenge in having three buildings on two elevations that we had to tie together. The three different-looking buildings had to work as a cohesive unit, for example, by creating general colour schemes that weren’t overpowering to the buildings themselves.” Daniel Smith, Director, Noviun

Finalists:

• Dorchester Brewery - AJC Group

• UniLife, 12-14 High Street, Southampton – OB Architecture

Commercial Development of the Year – sponsored by South Coast CPS

Winner: Langstone Park – XLB Property

“Langstone Park consists of four units that are designed to BREEAM Excellent standards. Solar panels on the roofs are a phenomenal benefit. On the south coast demand for commercial property outstrips supply. The problem institutional developers face is getting hold of land but when you do, there is massive potential to achieve your return on investment.” Elise Evans, Director, Lambert Smith Hampton

Finalists:

• Bedrock Park, Ferndown Industrial Estate – Vail Williams

• Dunsbury Park – Portsmouth City Council

• Engineering Centre – University of Southampton Science Park

• Grosvenor House – Arena Offices & Western Design Architects

• INEOS Grenadier, Portsmouth – HNW Architects

Property Deal of the Year – sponsored by Blake Morgan

Winner: Disposal of Units 1&2 Strategic Park, Southampton – Realest

“These were two vacated units at Strategic Park of 58,000 and 67,000 square feet. We project managed their refurbishment, handled planning advice and dealt with the lettings. Unit 1 saw SailGP move its manufacturing activity here from New Zealand, which brought jobs to the area. Unit 2 involved Oil Spill Response relocating its manufacturing from the centre of Southampton. The project justified investors carrying out the multi-million-pound refurbishment by being rewarded with immediate income.” Adrian Whitfield, Director, Realest

Finalists:

• Acquisition of Trafalgar Wharf – BDB Pitmans

• Sale of North Haven Point – Tailor Made Estate Agents

Fast Rising Property Business of the Year – sponsored by MSP Capital

Winner: Ridge and Partners

“Our rapid growth in the last 12 months is based largely around our Winchester office, which has expanded by about 20-25%. Growth is being driven by the group of people there and their attitude. It’s about carefully selecting people with the right mindset and strategically planning your business model around them and your client base, making sure they all fit together. We expect further growth, especially after the general election. We’re seeing a positive outlook for the future in the market and in feedback from clients.” James McCulloch, Partner, Ridge and Partners

Finalists:

• GB Air

• Hurst & Hurst Estates

Residential Development of the Year – sponsored by Gracelands

Winner: The Sloop – AJC Group

“The Sloop provides much-needed new homes and rental opportunities for the community. Having a large structure relative to the size of the site came with its challenges in terms of movement of materials and general manoeuvrability. Careful planning of operations using the knowledge and experience of the AJC project team and specialist contractors resulted in the successful completion of each task. We are conscious of the impact new construction projects have on the local community, especially during the build phase, and we make continued efforts to mitigate disruptions. Generally speaking, the feedback from the local community and council has been extremely positive.” Tarek Tabbah, Head of Technical, AJC Group

Finalists:

• Heritage Place – Bargate Homes

• Lavant View – Redrow Homes Southern Counties

• Saint George’s Park – Elivia Homes

• Selbourne Park, Alton – Foreman Homes Group

• Shillingstone Fields – Hurst & Hurst Estates

Sustainable Development of the Year – sponsored by Barratt Developments

Winner: Hope Street – Snug Architects

“Hope Street is a pioneering new facility that provides an alternative to a custodial sentence for women in the justice system, commissioned by the charity One Small Thing. The use of Cross Laminated Timber for the superstructure gave substantial embodied energy savings, delivering a 75% reduction in embodied carbon. As a result, there were significant fire-related challenges that needed to be overcome. We are incredibly proud to have delivered a ‘first of its kind’ trauma-informed building that is changing the justice system, while also achieving a BREEAM Outstanding rating.” Paul Bulkeley, Design Director and founder, Snug Architects

Finalists:

• Engineering Centre – University of Southampton Science Park

• Langstone Park, Phase 1 – XLB Property

• Stroud Park - Instavolt

Young Property Person of the Year – sponsored by SHW

Winner: Rosanna Parker – Steele Raymond

“I joined the firm as a secretary and wanted to be a paralegal. They had never had paralegals before and I was the first. Now I’ve shown it can be done we have a lot more. I had studied languages but decided I wanted to be a lawyer – and found I was good at it. What has really helped me is having a great team of the nicest people around me who are all good at what they do and who really care about people. I specialise in commercial property and industrial, in particular. One client even named their industrial estate after my middle name: Parveneh Park in Ringwood.” Rosanna Parker, Associate, Steele Raymond

Finalists:

• Andy Gibbs – Foreman Homes Group

• Annabel Huffer – Eddisons incorporating Daniells Harrison

• Natalie Kyle – Eddisons incorporating Daniells Harrison

• Bryony Thompson – Vail Williams

The Mark Vincent Lifetime Achievement Award – sponsored by Amiri Construction

Winner: Tony Boyle – Boyle & Summers

“I was thrilled to be nominated for and to win for this award. In the last 27 years in the Solent and south coast region, I have worked with some amazing people and alongside some incredible colleagues.” Tony Boyle, Director and Co-founder, Boyle & Summers