South Island properties scooped the top awards at the Registered Master Builders 2007 House of the Year and RMB Commercial Project Awards, in association with PlaceMakers held in Auckland recently.
An opulent family home in Dunedin and the recently upgraded Burwood Hospital Surgical Services Unit in Christchurch took out the supreme awards at a black-tie gala dinner at Auckland’s SkyCity Convention Centre.
Prime Minister Helen Clark and Minister for Building and Construction Clayton Cosgrove joined more than 800 builders and industry leaders to celebrate the best new homes and commercial buildings in New Zealand.
The 2007 House of the Year was awarded to builders J J Oskam for a new family home in Maori Hill, Dunedin, described as “a modern interpretation of some of Otago’s notable stately homes”.
Its features include an indoor swimming pool, wine cellar, chef’s kitchen and mirrored-glass tile alcove purpose-built to display a Harley-Davidson motorcycle.
The competition’s national residential judges, Graeme Sutton and Rolly Adams, said the outstanding attention to detail and flawless execution made this home the standout winner.
Mainzeal Property and Construction Ltd took home the RMB Commercial Project of the Year for the upgrade of Burwood Hospital’s Surgical Services Unit in Christchurch.
The facility, which was completed in March this year, replaced three small outdated operating theatres with four state-of-the-art operating theatres.
The new unit has been designed to make patients’ comfort paramount, and optimises natural light to create a restful ambience.
Head commercial judge Graham Mallett says the end result is a functional and aesthetically pleasing building that can better meet the demands of patients.
Registered Master Builders Federation chief executive Pieter Burghout says the quality of National Gold Reserve finalists in this year’s House of the Year and RMB Commercial Project Awards were extremely high, and the judges had their work cut out choosing the winners.
“This competition has been embraced by a huge number of builders from all over New Zealand, and has set a new benchmark for quality workmanship in commercial and residential building sectors. It is proof that the construction industry is in extremely fine shape.”
David Edwards, chief executive of principal sponsor PlaceMakers, says the Registered Master Builders House of the Year competition demonstrates the quality and high standards of building in New Zealand.
“PlaceMakers is proud to support this competition and help recognise and reward excellence in the construction industry.
“We congratulate all National Gold Reserve finalists and this year’s national award winners,” Mr Edwards says.
The 100 finalists — all National Gold Reserve Award winners — were selected from almost 700 entrants in 20 regional competitions held throughout June, July and August.
