Fern House in Bingley, West Yorkshire, a development from the Abbeyfield Society, has won the residential category at the 2018 Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Awards Grand Final.

Shortlisted against 10 other residential developments from around the UK, the scheme was awarded the accolade with judges reportedly praising how Fern House had integrated into the surrounding area and community.

The development was entered into the RICS Grand Final, hosted by ITV news anchor Nina Hossain in London, after being named as the best new residential development at the RICS Yorkshire & Humber Awards earlier this year.

Abdul A Ravat, The Abbeyfield Society’s head of development, explained:

“When the national judges from RICS visited the scheme they experienced at first hand that the residents enjoyed living in their new homes, and the care and companionship that was provided by Abbeyfield The Dales only served to enhance the success of the development.”

The 84,000 ft2 development was built on the site of the former Bingley Hospital. It now provides 49 affordable one and two bedroom extra-care apartments and 30 affordable en-suite dementia care rooms, and is a result of collaborative working between architects Brewster Bye, Bardsley Construction, quantity surveyors BWA (Europe) and the full design team. The scheme was supported with £6.4m of private funding from Clydesdale & Yorkshire Bank Group and £2.34m of public investment from Homes England. Work completed in June 2017 at a total cost of £14.8m.

Fern House previously won the ‘Best Social or Affordable New Housing Development’ at the regional LABC Building Excellence Awards in June 2018. It is pitched against 11 other entries for the LABC Grant Final later this month in London.

The facility is managed by Abbeyfield The Dales and has been operational for over 12 months.