The efforts of several sustainable residential property development firms were rewarded by the What House? Awards last year, under the Sustainable Developer of the Year category, with gold won by Barratt Developments - beating off stiff competition from Linden Homes and Taylor Wimpey, which were awarded the silver and bronze accolades, respectively.
Gold: Barratt Developments
Barratt Developments collected no fewer than four What House? awards at last year's glittering ceremony at the Grosvenor Hotel in London.
Aside from being named Sustainable Developer of the Year, the firm also collected gold for Best Partnership Scheme, along with other AIMC4 members, as well as bronze in the Best Exterior Design and Best Mixed use categories.
Steven Boyes, Barratt Developments chief operating officer, commented: "To be recognised for design, build, partnerships and sustainability - both as a business and in practice, is a fitting accolade to the hard work and dedication shown by our teams across the country.
"We have made significant progress around sustainability in particular, and winning awards in two award schemes leaves no doubt that we are industry leaders in this field."
What House? judges were impressed with the fact that the developer's proportion of homes that meet the Code for Sustainable Homes developments has risen to almost 40%.
Judges said: "It [Barratt] has introduced an energy reduction initiative led by ‘Green Teams' in every division. The scheme has already proved a success, with its West Yorkshire division saving 237,600 hours of energy in 12 months and reducing landfill by 25,000 tonnes."
A worthy gold winner.
Silver: Linden Homes
The winner of the silver award was Linden Homes which currently builds over 300 new homes per year, including properties in a zero-carbon development, which is scheduled for completion in 2019.
Wind turbines, district energy systems, solar thermal panels, source heat pumps, are among a wide range of energy efficient mod cons used by the developer to ensure that strict sustainable goals are met.
"Linden Homes has set itself stringent carbon reduction targets that exceed those required by government legislation," said What House? judges.
Adding to Linden's eco-friendly credentials was another silver award in the Best Brownfield section too, for their popular Evolve development in Plymouth.
Yet more praise also went to Linden's highly-rated Kingston Mills riverside development in Bradford-on-Avon which attracted bronze awards in the Best Mixed Use and Best Renovation categories.
Galliford Try chief executive Greg Fitzgerald said: "This is another very encouraging result in a year that saw our housebuilding efforts around the country repeatedly recognised by the judges.
"It's thanks to the skill and dedication of our teams in every department of the company that we have achieved this. It sets us up to continue to strive for similar excellent results in 2013: picking up more awards and delighting customers."
Bronze: Taylor Wimpey
Taylor Wimpey was awarded a bronze in this category, illustrating that the company, which claims to manage environmental issues in a proactive and balanced way, does indeed recognise the importance of sustainable development.
Judges noted: "Taylor Wimpey sent 18% less construction waste to landfill than it had done in 2010 and 53% less than in 2007. In order to continue the reduction of construction waste sent to landfill, Taylor Wimpey is introducing its ReUSE programme to maximise the sharing of surplus soil and recycled aggregates between sites."
Taylor Wimpey has also recently introduced an energy and carbon strategy programme across its operational estate, with a comprehensive review being undertaken of supply chain energy and sustainability.
"We are delighted that our achievements have been recognised," said Pete Redfern, group chief executive of Taylor Wimpey. "We are committed to excellence in the design and construction of the homes we build, the quality of the locations we choose and the service and assistance we provide to our customers."