STANSTED-MOUNTFITCHET based developer; City & Country Group, is proud to announce that it has won two more property industry accolades, at this years hotly contested, What House? Awards. The company, who specialise in the restoration and conversion of historic and listed buildings into luxurious, new homes, won the Gold Award for Best Renovation at its Old Saint Michael’s development in Braintree, and the Silver Award for Best Small Homebuilder.
The company’s Gold award win was for its conversion of a former Grade II Listed Victorian workhouse, latterly St Michaels Hospital in Braintree. The development, now called Old Saint Michaels, comprises a stylish and unique range of one, two and three bedroom apartments and mews cottages, set in eye-catching landscaped courtyard gardens. Offering a wide choice of homes to suit every individual taste and budget, City & Country Group has restored each individual property in a captivating and distinctive way.
Judges commented: “This is an imaginative scheme and City & Country should be congratulated for its approach. Minimal intervention, retention of original fabric, thoughtfulness and a willingness to do the best for the buildings has paid dividends.”
The awards, presented by comedian Jimmy Carr and held at the Grosvenor House Hotel on 19th November, also saw City & Country receive the Silver Award for Best Small Housebuilder. Judges commented: “City & Country Group are restoration kings, with the scale and ambitions of some of its projects far too scary for those with lesser skills sets and little understanding of how restoration can enhance and breathe new life into a building, rather than simply stripping away its history.”
City & Country Group undertakes detailed conservation and restoration of heritage buildings across the south east of England. Their developments are as diverse as Old Saint Michaels in Braintree, to The Galleries in Brentwood, an early Victorian Hospital. The original plans were painstakingly researched by the development team, including detailed drawings showing formal gardens and ‘airing courtyards’ designed for patients of the hospital. The buildings and gardens have now been reinstated for the benefit of residents as part of the extensive award winning landscape masterplan. Internally, City & Country Group has worked with the structure of the original building and in doing so has created unusual and highly innovative living spaces.
Judges continued: “The apartments at Old Saint Michaels in Braintree are causing a stir, as are those at The Galleries in Brentwood, fusing contemporary style and finishing with a respect for the original, period features.”
Helen Moore, Managing Director for City & Country Residential, comments: “We are delighted to receive this excellent recognition for our whole team for whom it is a labour of love and a privilege to rescue and revitalise some of England’s dilapidated historic assets by turning them into unusual and sought-after properties. In each of our beautiful developments we have carefully retained historic details bringing together old and new to create stunning homes and a unique living experience for anyone who buys a home there. There really is nothing else like it.”
City & Country Group’s latest scheme to launch onto the market is Grade I Listed Balls Park, which is being restored and sensitively converted. Located on the outskirts of Hertford, the landmark 17th century mansion, built circa 1648, and the Grade II listed Coach House and Stables, built in 1902, are currently being transformed by City & Country into 40 breathtaking apartments overlooking 63 acres of picturesque parkland.