The voice of property

Wednesday 23 May 2012

Citylets has two reasons to be cheerful following news that the Scottish rental experts won Best Niche Portal at the PROPERTYdrum B2B Awards – on the same day Experian Hitwise confirmed it as the number one lettings site in the UK.

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Beverley Brown

Thomas Ashdown, Citylets founder and managing director, said: "Citylets strives to provide a quality service to help people across Scotland find their ideal rental home, and it may be encouraging for landlords and agents in the UK to know there are credible niche sites such as ours available to them. "Renting is a local phenomenon, with 86% of tenants moving within Scotland, so there is no need for the UK to be dominated by large UK-wide sites."

Winning waysThe housebuilding industry has also been celebrating as its trade body, Homes for Scotland, announced the winners of its 2012 Awards, which this year focused on four key themes: customers, people, partnership and design. The winners were:Best Customer Service Initiative: Barratt Homes ScotlandBest Marketing Campaign: CALA Homes Young Achiever: Stewart Lynes, Operations Director, Miller HomesOutstanding Achievement: Derek Mickel, Group Chairman, Mactaggart & MickelBest Partnership in Planning: Persimmon Homes East ScotlandBest Partnership in Affordable Housing Delivery: The Cruden GroupBest Home Design: Cruden Homes WestBest Low Carbon Initiative: Stewart Milne HomesHomes for Scotland Supporting Company of the Year – Forster RoofingTaking the plungeA traditional semi-detached bungalow in Houston has a surprising addition at the bottom of the garden: a mini leisure centre, complete with heated swimming pool, sauna, steam room, changing room/toilet and bar area.It was designed and professionally built by present owner Audrey Dunbar in 2009 after she tried to join a health club and found there was no single-parent membership category. "Having then discovered the running and maintenance costs of a home pool are very reasonable, I decided to create a private health club in the garden," she explains. Amazingly, the pool house is larger than the size of the original two-bedroom bungalow, which has since been extended upwards and outwards to include a dining room, conservatory and attic room/third bedroom accessed by a spiral staircase, living room, fitted breakfasting kitchen and bathroom with corner Jacuzzi. The conservatory and dining room both open on to the rear garden, paved all the way down to the poolhouse, which has three sets of double doors. Audrey and her 12-year-old son Joshua take it in turns to have friends around at the weekend – and the pool house has been such a success Audrey is already planning its successor for her new house.Slater Hogg & Howison's Bridge of Weir office is marketing this unique property at offers over £260,000.Living on The EdgeThe awards season also saw a Scottish eco home shortlisted in this year's Grand Designs Award. The Edge, an outstanding and aptly named minimalist new build in Dumfries & Galloway, is situated on a cliff top overlooking the Solway and beyond to the Irish Sea, Isle of Man and the Lake District peaks. Designed using PassivHaus principles and built over four years, the interior has an open-plan living area incorporating a three-metre-high glass wall overlooking the sea, an internal courtyard, glass walkway, 'floating' oak staircase and a first-floor balcony. The inspirational design also has triple glazing, an air-source heat pump, solar panels and a mechanical heat recovery and ventilation system – all of which make it highly energy efficient and maintain a comfortable and healthy living environment. During the ceremony in London, host and TV presenter Kevin McCloud praised the home's stunning location and panoramic 230-degree views. Owners Carole and John say they feel privileged to live in such a beautiful part of the world. Equestrian conversionMy house of the week is the stunning Glenhaven, formerly the stables belonging to Kirkmichael House in the village of Kirkmichael in South Ayrshire.The best stable conversion I have seen for years, it owes its success to the merger of original stonework and arched stable doorways, with an upgraded interior which emphasises quality in an understated way and allows the architecture and setting to be the main features. Forming an L-shape around a south-facing courtyard, the accommodation spans about 3600 sq ft and includes a double-height hall with wood-burning stove, formal lounge/dining room, family/TV room with a spiral staircase to the first floor, and a magnificent bespoke dining kitchen, where an exposed stone wall incorporates two sets of arched double doors opening on to the courtyard with gardens and woodland beyond. Upstairs are five double bedrooms (three with en-suite facilities), an open-plan gallery/study area and bathroom. Glenhaven is being marketed by Corum's Ayr office at offers over £595,000.Foundation of a homeI have no idea to whom the following quote is attributed, but it really does say it all: "A house is made of walls and beams; a home is built with love and dreams."

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