Best of Self Build & Renovation 2023: Award-Winning Products & Services

Best Heating Innovation

NIBE for its PV-T Heat Pump

Installed as part of a wider retrofit, this truly innovative system combines a rooftop solar PV system with ground source heat pump (GSHP) appliance.

While harvesting energy from the sun to generate electricity, the setup also extracts aerothermal heat to efficiently and silently drive the heat pump process – delivering low-carbon space heating and instant hot water.

Best Home Technology Product or Installation

Smart Control Technologies for Wolverhampton Assisted Living Project

The brief for this project by Smart Control Technologies was to create an advanced home for an 18-year-old wheelchair user, who has restricted use of their right hand. Lighting, heating and blinds are  controllable from the client’s bedside, while a video intercom system allows them to speak to and let in visitors from an internal screen.

Category Sponsor Frame Technologies

Best Roofing Product

Lifestiles for its Reclamation Mix Tiles

Old tiles generally look great by virtue of the fact they’ve been on roofs for a long time. But how do you capture that instant character? Lifestiles’ Reclamation Mix is a charming blend of handmade tiles that combine the texture and variation of reclaimed versions with the advantages of new products made to European quality standards.

Priced at just £1.12 per plain tile, they’re packed into crates pre-blended, meaning you won’t have to pay your roofing contractor for extra hours of labour mixing them on site.

Best Insulation Product

Unity Lime for Isolair Multi Wood Fibre Insulation

Isolair Multi is a natureplus-certified wood fibre insulation board from Pavatex, available from Unity Lime. It’s supplied in an easy-to-install, interlocking tongue-and-groove profile and can be used in a range of new build and retrofit applications. These include masonry, timber frame and CLT external walls, internal walls and pitched roofs.

Best Innovation in Insulation

AeroBarrier UK for AeroBarrier

Typically applied at the second-fix stage of a new build project, AeroBarrier is a game-changing sealing system that can reduce air leakage. The system works by pressurising a house using a door blower fan and then misting it with a special water-based sealant, which forms a flexible and vapour-permeable seal. Remarkably, it can cut uncontrolled air leakage by anything from 40% to 95%.

Best Cladding Product

Millworks for Mokuzai Charred

Many self builders love the look of shou-sugi-ban charred timber cladding, but it can be prone to chipping and flaking over time. So, Millworks set out to combat these issues while maintaining the strong aesthetic of heavily charred timber. The result is Mokuzai Charred, which uses a flameless technique with mechanical heat rollers.

Best Joinery Product

Kloeber UK for UberFront

This impressive front door system delivers on both aesthetics and performance. Featuring an insulated core and thermally-broken aluminium construction, UberFront achieves a U-value of 0.8 W/m2K. It’s available in a choice of 75mm or 90mm panel depths – giving that much-coveted thud factor – and a flush-finish panel design.

Best Self Build Mortgage Lender

Hinckley & Rugby Building Society

Hinckley & Rugby Building Society (HRBS) is a National Custom & Self Build Association (NaCSBA) member that’s made a valuable contribution to the self build sector – on top of offering sizable loans and excellent service to customers creating their dream home.

Within the last year, it’s launched both advance stage lending and a custom build product for those who want to realise their tailor-made house.

Best Staircase

Bisca for its Recycled Timber Staircase

Described by one Awards judge as “pure sculpture”, this beautiful staircase by Bisca was completed for a barn conversion in Northumberland. The flight forms a dramatic focal point in the centre of the living space.

Finished to perfection, the helical stairs’ rustic character adds instant wow factor to the house. The white-painted support structure provides a contrast to the palette of natural timber.