Evening Standard New Homes Awards 2018: GPad London wins top prize for Wittering House

The winning designers impressed our panel of judges with the modest yet elegant two-bedroom house they created on the site of a small derelict garage in Finsbury Park. 
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Architecture and interior design practice GPad London has scooped the top prize at this year’s Evening Standard New Homes Awards for Wittering House, a stylish home built with dazzling attention to detail in north London.

Our awards champion excellence across the housing spectrum - from first-time buyer flats to family houses, and factory lofts to striking architect-designed homes and mansions for millionaires.

Judged by readers, this year’s winners have everything that buyers want - inventive design, wow-factor interiors, eco-friendly features, glamour and great value.

Comedian Kevin Bridges hosted the ceremony, which was held on Friday in the ballroom of The Dorchester Hotel in Mayfair. He was joined by Tracey Neville, head coach of the England ladies’ netball team, who presented trophies to winners in 14 categories.

The Grand Prix Award is presented to the crème de la crème of all the homes and developments honoured at the event, now in its 27th year.

GPad London’s winning designers created a modest yet elegant two-bedroom house on the site of a small derelict garage in Finsbury Park.

Architect Charles Bettes spotted the potential of the pint-sized plot, measuring a mere 6x7 metres, and set about creating an affordable home for him and his teacher wife, Vicki Lim.

Contemporary in design but not jarring, the 829 sq ft house is a discreet intervention in a street of Victorian houses.

Small but stylish: the 829 sq ft Wittering House has a chic Scandi-style interior

Set over three levels and clad in handsome brick and bronze, it feels larger due to the use of dual-aspect rooms, a lightwell, pocket doors and large windows, free-flowing spaces and a courtyard garden.

The sleek, Scandi-style interior is relaxed and calming, with whitewashed oak panelling and resin floors.

The project took just ten months from start to finish, and cost £240,000, excluding the price of the land, proving that a tasteful, genuinely bespoke house need not require a big budget.

The husband and wife team behind Wittering House are both 33-years-old. Speaking shortly after their win, they said: "We are shocked, surprised and really proud. We created a small home in the city which is ideal for us. It's a series of small spaces filled with light, which for Charles was the most important thing."

Earlier, Barratt London bagged the prize for Home or Development of Outstanding Architectural Merit with Lombard Wharf by Patel Taylor​ in Battersea.

This plectrum-shaped tower adds grace and rhythm to the waterfront. Wraparound balconies rotate by two degrees, enhancing an optical illusion of movement.

Towering over the Thames: Lombard Wharf 134 flats cost from £775,000
Peter Cook/View

Wandsworth planners wanted a landmark building at this twist of the Thames, next to listed Cremorne railway bridge and where a new pedestrian bridge and riverside plaza is earmarked.

Unlike most riverside developments, it does not have a discernible front or back; it looks elegant from every aspect - and does not turn its back on the city.

Its intriguing design softens its impact from a distance, before its boldness reveals itself as you get closer. The 134 flats cost from £775,000 to £4.9m.

Notable other winners included Powell Tuck Associates, who triumphed in the Best Conversion category for Monty Python Studios in Camden, formerly Milkwood Studios, where some of the best and most surreal classics by British comedy’s biggest names were created.

Tucked away in a gated courtyard, the complex of buildings, including a vast double-height 4,000 sq ft lateral space, has been transformed into a spectacular single home and office for the owner, who works in the fashion industry.

No laughing matter: Monty Python Studios is now a spectacular single home

The architects enhanced the buildings’ raw structure and character by introducing light wells, glazed links and a roof terrace over the main living space.

Deft bespoke touches include skateboard wheels on a ladder that moves along tall kitchen units, and a table made of railway sleepers.

Elsewhere, Fitzroy Place’s glamourous The Penthouse won Best Apartment and Meyer Homes’ imaginative St Albans townhouse, Gabriel Square, walked away with Best Out of London Home.

Best Regeneration Project went to Network Homes for Kilburn Quarter in north London, thoughtfully designed on a human scale with architecture that is genuinely uplifting, before Best Small Development was won by Hogarth Architects for Estcourt Road, their transformation of an old tyre factory into two beautiful maisonettes in Fulham.

Scroll through the gallery above for the complete list of winners, which will also be featured in Homes & Property on Wednesday 23 May.

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