THE directors of a Hexham architects’ firm are celebrating after one of their buildings has been shortlisted for yet another prestigious award.

Ben Elliot, who is a director of Elliot Architects on Corbridge Road along with his wife, Lynsey, said he was ‘over the moon’ to find out The Dell had been shortlisted for the Regional RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) award.

The Dell, on the outskirts of Morpeth, is a family home with slate shingle cladding to the lower sections and timber above.

It has a cruciform arrangement, which divides the house into areas of varying degrees of privacy, with a private, south-facing kitchen-terrace and a garden to the north exploiting the flat section of the site.

“The site was quite difficult as it is steeply sloping,” explained Ben.

“The main issue was that the water main for Morpeth runs right through the middle of the site, so work had to be done to move that.”

While both Ben and Lynsey have a history in architecture, their joint company, Elliot Architects, was only established around three years ago.

In that time, they have been shortlisted for three awards, winning two.

Last year, they won the RIBA regional award for Crook Hall Visitor Centre in Durham. It also won the RIBA North East Small Project of the Year award.

But despite their strong record in the past, they were still surprised to be shortlisted for such a prestigious award.

“It was brilliant; we were absolutely amazed,” Ben said.

“Last year we were massively shocked as well, but we didn’t want to get cocky as it’s never a given.

“The quality of the work which gets submitted each year gets better and better, which is a good thing for the region. We were absolutely over the moon.”