A SELF-BUILT house tucked away in West Woodburn has been described as one of Northumberland’s finest homes after cleaning up at this year’s Royal Institute of British Architects’ regional awards night.

Shawm House, built by Richard Pender to accommodate the needs of his ageing parents, Tony and Anne, won four of the 11 trophies presented during the ceremony at Newcastle’s Biscuit Factory art gallery on Friday.

The four were: RIBA North East Award 2017, RIBA North East Small Project 2017, RIBA North East Sustainability Award 2017 and RIBA North East Project Architect of the Year 2017 for designer Dan Kerr, of MawsonKerr Architects.

Richard was most impressed by the fact one of the other winners was Daniel Libeskind, whose work includes the Jewish Museum in Berlin, the Imperial War Museum North in Manchester and the reconstruction of the World Trade Centre site after 9/11.

“What got me was this little upstart self-build from rural Northumberland was up against Daniel Libeskind – we were on the next table to him at the awards night – who has built a fine new centre for Durham University,” he said.

“But we won four: there were only 11 awards on the night and we won four of them.

“While the other awards were mostly collected by individuals, we kept getting up as a team because it was a team effort.”

The judges said Shawm House had a remarkable story to tell. Visitors felt connected to the history of the Pender family and the surrounding Northumbrian landscape, complete with its historic farms and bastles, thanks to carefully-framed views.

“Working in partnership with Dan Kerr the project architect, Richard Pender has developed from scratch an enviable understanding of construction methodology and technologies, new practical skills and an undeniably keen eye for detail,” they wrote.

‘The project team have combined their knowledge of Passivhaus construction with an ethos for sustainable design and aligned this approach to a strategy for using materials available on site and from local sources to conceive a truly sustainable, low energy and low impact proposition.

“Shawm House will be a perfect home for Richard’s parents and is indeed one of Northumberland’s finest homes.”