Coldwells Build Winners at 2023 Federation of Master Builder Awards

The Arbor House in Aberdeen won the House Builder award. The contemporary, two-storey residence was built by Coldwells Build in 2022, replacing a dilapidated 19th century coach house. A stone wall from the old building was preserved and incorporated into an outdoor colonnade, which leads to a secret garden.

The Coldwells Build team were tested during the construction, when the supplier of the board-marked concrete panels bowed out at the last minute. With no other alternatives, our joiners and builders rose to the challenge, innovating a solution to hand pour and cast the 14 wall panels on site. The board-marked concrete panels feature prominently throughout, wrapping around the exterior and into the home.

The judging panel commented, “Coldwells Build’s willingness to learn, to innovate and to do so with the most complex of tasks is astounding.”

Our Farragon project in Aberdeen’s west end was crowned the winner of the Large Renovation category. The project involved the reinvention of a grand Victorian house for the 21st century.

The finished result is a light and spacious family home, which has been fully rewired, replumbed, reroofed and reconfigured. The ground floor has been opened up to allow the family to spend time together. Period features were lovingly restored including picture rails, decorative woodwork and panelled doors, whilst great care was taken to match intricate cornicing and stained glass.

The judging panel commented, “Coldwells Build has displayed everything you would want in a builder. It used innovative methods of construction, pushing the team to develop new processes, use traditional tools and learn new skills.”

Both homes were designed by our long-time collaborators, Brown & Brown Architects.

The Federation of Master Builder awards recognise building excellence, quality craftsmanship and exceptional customer service and are run by the Federation of Master Builders (FMB), the largest trade association in the UK construction industry.

Coldwells Build will now represent Scotland at the national FMB awards in London in September.