15/09/2026
Ke-design are delighted to be the Regional Winners of the LABC Building Excellence Awards 2026 : Best New Small Development (West Midlands) with our 3 detached dwellings, Coopers Lane, Porth-Y-Waen, Oswestry.
LABC Building Excellence Awards 2026- West Midlands Winners:
Best New Small Development.
Our project in Porth Y Waen, near Oswestry has won the Best New Small Development category in the West Midlands regional awards and will now go forward to the National finals in January 2027.
Design work started on the project in 2021 when Ke-design were appointed to design 3 speculative dwellings for a local builder come developer. The design stage was followed by planning and building regulations.
The site itself is a designers dream with the approach from the north and spectacular south facing views. A designer’s dream is when the client puts 100% faith in their design ability, and says ‘design what you want’.
The house designs overcome the sites slope with split level floor plans. Each dwelling has a glazed double height entrance that comes in at upper ground, which accommodates a home office come double bedroom and a snug, before a feature open tread stairs goes down half a level to the open plan kitchen / dining / living space with extensive south facing floor to ceiling glazing, framing the views and enjoying solar gain.
The split level first floor accommodates 4 double bedrooms and 3 bathrooms, all with vaulted ceilings with the Master bedroom and second bedroom embracing the views with glazed gables and balconies.
The client not only put faith in our design ability, but also our construction knowledge, as they were not experienced in timber frame construction. Timber frame construction gives a highly insulated airtight building envelope, along with solar, underfloor heating and mechanical ventilation heat recovery (MVHR) means energy efficient dwellings resulting in low energy bills.
The client could have easily built 3 typical executive red brick houses, but Ke-design’s approach was to take in the sites constraints and design these bespoke dwelling as if they were self-builds that we would want to live in. The proof in ‘good design adds value’ followed with 2 of the 3 dwellings selling off plan thanks to Monks Estate Agents.
We are proud that this project has been recognised by LABC. These awards celebrate excellence, quality, and a commitment to raising standards across the construction industry, making this recognition all the more rewarding.
A big thank you to the client and the rest of the project team.
Project Team:
Ke-design – Architectural Services
Kevin Davies- Client/Developer/Building Contractor
JPS - Civil & Structural Engineers Design- Structural Engineer
Drainage Engineers- Berrys
Timber Frame- Huws Gray Timber Engineering - Welshpool
Render- Gwilt & Son Plastering Contractors
LABC- Shropshire County Council
