A housebuilder doesn’t have to have a signature architect or a big high profile city site in order to produce schemes of high quality. Midas Homes, part of Galliford Try, is showing how to do it every day of the working week. Across the South west of England, from Dorset to Cornwall, Midas is consistently producing good-looking, top quality homes in schemes ranging from just eight apartments to 300 home-plus mixed communities with the help of locally-based architects.
It was its skills as a truly local housebuilder that won Midas recognition from our judges. As well as showcasing local architectural talent, Midas makes the very most of its West Country context with its traditional and modern home designs. The company engages with local regeneration initiatives and public sector partners to deliver mixed tenure and mixed use communities.
For the past year Midas has been picking up the plaudits for its Gunwharf scheme on the Plymouth waterfront, where it has regenerated a brownfield site with a collection of timber and render-clad homes designed by architect Lacey Hickie Caley. With their angular sail-like roofs and splashes of deep sea coloured render, the homes have become an emblem of local transformation.
Midas is also adept at developing traditional homes with all the right authentic touches. The Village in St Austell was once the site of a rail yard. Now it contains traditional homes faced in sugary pastel renders and faithfully detailed to recreate the West Country village idyll, all designed by local architect Alan Leather Associates. The scheme has been produced in partnership with a range of organisations, including landowners Restormel Borough Council and Devon and Cornwall Housing Association, and with input from the Prince’s Foundation.
That same attention to local detail extends through every Midas project, whether it is for just eight apartments in Bishopsteignton, Devon, or for the 390 eco-homes in Colcoath, Camborne, that the housebuilder is developing with regeneration agency English Partnerships and a number of housing association partners. No wonder that Midas’ approach is now considered a model of good practice by parent Galliford Try.
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