NOVEMBER 23 2017 l Belfast Telegraph
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HE winner of the Commercial Architectural Practice of the Year Award sponsored by Savills went to Belfast-based White Ink Architects. The judges were impressed by the company’s overall submission and in particular its commitment to innovative initiatives. Ben Turtle, head of Savills Northern Ireland, presented the award to Associate Aine Glackin. Aine said: “The Commercial Architectural Practice of the Year award is testament to the collaboration, hard work and dedication of the White Ink team and everyone we have worked with over the last 16 years. A big thank you to our staff, to our clients and wider project teams. “This award celebrates and reinforces White Ink’s team culture and values which are embedded in all aspects of our work. We are grateful for our clients’ continual confidence in us to deliver increasingly valuable contracts — currently ranging from £1.9m to £57m — and in return we consistently look for and optimise opportunities for our clients to obtain the best value for their investments. White Ink Architects has grown significantly since it was first set up in 2001 by Claude Maguire, Joan McCoy and Sean Tunney. Today it provides architectural, interior design and consultancy services to private clients, developers and contractors throughout the UK. The team’s expertise lies in a wide range of buildings in the residential and commercial sectors including hotels, offices, education, health and industrial. Contract values at present range from £1.9m to £57m, with bids currently valued at over £100m. Since January 2016 the company has increased its turnover from
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ELFAST-based Neil Mathews Architects picked up the Residential Architectural Practice of the Year Award sponsored by Savills. Ben Turtle, head of Savills Northern Ireland, presented the award to Neil at the Crowne Plaza last Friday. A delighted Neil said: “We are absolutely delighted to win Best Architect of the Year. The Belfast Telegraph Property Awards have grown from strength to strength over the years and we are very pleased to be part of what has become a great institution.” The firm has enjoyed a year of considerable growth and success in the residential sector. They have just received approval for a spectacular modern house in Gleno, are on site with a 300sq ft eco house in Islandmagee, which has sparked interest from the makers of top TV series Grand Designs, Home by the Sea, and are also designing a 7,500sq ft bespoke home on another exposed coastal location. During the past year the company has won several other commissions which has seen expansion of the office in terms of technology, staff and equipment. The company prides itself on offering a broad range of services to both individual residential clients and a select group of medium volume developers. Mostly focused on highly tailored design solutions to very specific needs, they also enjoy the occasional commission of volume house building. The company’s reach extends beyond Northern Ireland and they are currently working on several commissions in the residential sector in London.
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2017 Belfast Telegraph Property Awards in association with
The company believes this success is down to client confidence in their ability to create design excellence and adding value, enabling them to deliver financially viable professional service to clients. Our judge Paul Crowe said of them: “This was an exemplary submission by White Ink Architects, which conveys excellence in all criteria. “In addition to the outstanding and challenging portfolio of project work, the judges were particularly impressed by the commitment to innovative initiatives in both technology and the investment in ‘Future Generations’ as a teaching practice.” Since 2013 the company has been investing heavily in software, hardware and training to be at the forefront of BIM — Building Information Modelling, which has recently revolutionised the construction industry. They pride themselves on offering a cutting-edge approach to design that eliminates waste from both the design and construction processes allowing them to deliver an information-rich building model to clients for easy future maintenance of their buildings. A reputation for delivering projects to budget, brief and timescale has been achieved through an intelligent, clinical approach to architecture that adds efficiency and value at every stage.
Pamela Ballantine with Ben Turtle, head of Savills Northern Ireland, who presented Aine Glackin and Claude Maguire, from White Ink Architects, with their award for Commercial Architectural Practice of the Year £1.26m to £1.86m, with 84.3% of its projects now outside of Northern Ireland. Its success is further evident in the growth of project contract values from
typically around £25m two years ago to over £50m. Since 2016 the firm has increased its workforce from 24 to 30 to meet this growth.
FINALISTS Award winning Belfast based Doherty Architects was Highly Commended in the Commercial Architectural Practice of the Year category. The company has built a reputation for design excellence through a wide range of projects and scales, including multi-use, residential, cultural and commercial schemes.
Our judging panel was impressed by the wide variety of expertise demonstrated in the company’s submission. Judge Paul Crowe said of the firm: “The work of Neil Mathews Architects is highly detailed and sensitive to its context whether the project is a contemporary intervention to a historical property; a remodelling of urban terraces or a rural new build. There was clear evidence of not only complying with a brief but in exceeding client expectations.” The company also demonstrated its commitment to innovation with their clever use of a cantilevered stainless steel roof over the porch at the front of a house in Sea Park Road. In so doing they were able to prove that a glass corner can actually support a tiny part of the weight of the roof, while concealing the main structure that held the roof up in the frames of the door.
FINALISTS Shortlisted in the Residential Architectural Practice of the Year category was Belfast firm 9yards Architecture. The company, which was set up in 2004, undertakes a complete range of residential and commercial design with a focus on fast response times and local knowledge. Regular residential projects include housing developments, one off new-build bespoke homes, extensions and refurbishments. Clients range from individual home owners and developers to national property investment companies. From concept to detailed design, the team will deal with planning, building control and project management.
Architectural Practice of the Year (Commercial) Sponsored by Savills WINNER White Ink Architects HIGHLY COMMENDED Doherty Architects FINALISTS 9yards Architecture Neil Mathews Architects
Architectural Practice of the Year (Residential) Sponsored by Savills Pamela Ballantine with Ben Turtle, head of Savills Northern Ireland, who presented Neil Mathews, of Neil Mathews Architects, with his award for Residential Architectural Practice of the Year The company has enjoyed continued growth with turnover increasing by 35% since January 2016. The judges were impressed by details of a recent project when the company identified significant issues with the site
of a bespoke home in Cove Bay, Groomsport. Identifying the problem at an early stage allowed them to overcome it to achieve an exceptional design solution within tight timescales.
WINNER Neil Matthews Architects SHORTLISTED 9yards Architecture