Top ten housebuilder, Galliford Try Homes has beaten off stiff competition to win three highly prestigious 2010 'Building for Life' awards, deemed the national standard for design excellence, safer neighbourhoods and best practice in the housebuilding industry.

Fifty-five developments in the country were this year judged to meet the stringent Building for Life standards and from the shortlist of just 10 outstanding award winners, Galliford Try Homes was the only developer to win three of the coveted awards across its regional businesses. BE: Newhall in Essex, Water Colour in Surrey (both Linden Homes developments) and Fairfield Park in Bedfordshire (built by Stamford Homes) were all named as outstanding schemes by the influential awards, which are run by Building for Life Partnerships members: Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE), Home Builders Federation (HBF) and Design for Homes.

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Building for Life standards are given to all developments that score more than 14/20. Schemes that score 14/20 or 15/20 receive the silver standard while schemes scoring 16/20 or more receive the gold standard. Each of the Galliford Try Homes' winning developments scored highly against the 20 Building for Life criteria including providing generous pedestrian routes, views and connections to preserved buildings and the use of advanced construction technology.

Good quality housing design can improve social well being and quality of life by reducing crime, improving public health, easing transport problems and increasing property values. This year's panel of expert judges included designer turned developer Wayne Hemingway, director of research at Savills Yolande Barnes, housebuilding guru David Pretty and former housing minister Nick Raynsford MP. The 20 Building for Life criteria embody the judges’ vision of functional, attractive and sustainable housing.

Ian Baker, Group Managing Director for Housebuilding at Galliford Try Homes, commented: "Achieving an outstanding three Building for Life Awards this year shows that Galliford Try Homes not only builds homes to the very highest standards, we also consider the environmental and community impact of each development. Winning three out of the ten awarded schemes is a fantastic achievement and our dedicated teams across the country are responsible for this result. We look forward to 2011 as we will continue to work hard to build on this year's successes."

(CD/GK)