SUPREME AWARD: Renovation of the Year was awarded to T P Builders for a property in Birkenhead, Auckland.
The Auckland region’s hottest properties have been chosen and more than a dozen of the city’s builders recognised for their golden touch.
The 2011 House of the Year and RMB Commercial Project Awards were held at Telstra Clear Stadium on Saturday night and recognised several city properties as well as others from Russell in the Bay of Islands through to Whitianga in the Coromandel.
The award ceremony is one of 14 regional events that take place before the national finalists are announced in September.
Eighteen builders from the Auckland region were recognised with Gold Awards which puts them in the running to become the overall National Winner which will be announced at a gala dinner in November.
T P Builders Limited was awarded the PlaceMakers Supreme Award for the Renovation of the Year, as well as the PlaceMakers Renovation Award over $500,000 category, for the transformation of a Birkenhead home with spectacular panoramic views.
Builder Tony Pexton said the renovation had left “only a couple of the walls still standing”.
“It was a very extensive rebuild. From the outside, if anything it’s a little bit understated, but when you get inside you see.”
The Birkenhead renovation took 14 months and required owners Neil and Irena Tolich to move out of their house of 28 years and into a rental during the build.
Irena Tolich said she had “complete confidence” in builder Tony Pexton and architect Belinda George.
Their ability to work and communicate effectively prevented any melt-downs such as those seen on shows like Grand Designs.
Tolich said the home had become very spacious and now had “lovely high ceilings”.
Pexton said the renovation had left “only a couple of the walls still standing”.
“It was a very extensive rebuild. From the outside, if anything it’s a little bit understated, but when you get inside you see.”
Judges said the home had been “completely reconfigured using some very precise structural steelwork”.
The RMB Commercial Project of the Year went to Mainzeal Property and Construction for its East Tamaki development of Lion Nathan’s Project Century.
A multi-million dollar, nine-bedroom, nine-bathroom “resort-like” home on a secluded water-front property in the Bay of Islands won most of the major awards including House of the Year, New Home over $2 million, the Gib Living Award, the PlaceMakers Heart of the Home Kitchen Award and the PlaceMakers Bathroom Excellence Award.
It was completed by Auckland company Lindesay Construction Limited
Judges said the home had been “completely reconfigured using some very precise structural steelwork”.
“(It has) created a large open plan living area that leads straight out to the pool area,” judges said.
“The joinery, windows and sliding doors were beautifully done. The workmanship was extremely good.”
The Bay of Islands Home of the Year was built by Lindesay Construction Ltd on the Russell Peninsula.
Judges said it was “a family home set up more like a resort, with numerous sporting amenities and the beach at their door step.”
Builder Tony Pexton discusses project (Video & Article courtesy from Stuff.co.nz)
