Housebuilder Banks Homes has won national recognition for the community work carried out by its team around its Cathedral Meadows development in West Rainton.
The County Durham-headquartered firm has been shortlisted in the Best Community Initiative category of the 2025 Housebuilder Awards, which aim to celebrate excellence in all aspects of the UK residential property sector and attract entries from the industry’s biggest names.
The award recognises housebuilders who demonstrate a strong commitment to engaging with and enhancing the communities around their developments, and can show how they have engaged and worked with the local community to ensure new developments enhance and improve the local environment.
Cathedral Meadows at West Rainton in County Durham is Banks Homes’ first large-scale residential development and will include up to 150 new properties, as well as a new community hub, a play area, new landscaped areas and new areas of public open space.
Led by community relations manager Kate Culverhouse, Banks’ community relations work around the development has seen strong relationships built with key stakeholders across the village, while financial support has been provided through a dedicated West Rainton community fund for a range of local projects, including a community lunch club, youth activities programme and a campaign to repair the chimes of the village church clock.
Proactive steps have also been taken to get teachers, parents and children at the nearby West Rainton Primary School involved at Cathedral Meadows, with site visits organised to show the children how the new homes are being built and members of the project team visiting the school to talk about their different jobs and how sustainability influences their design work.
Alison McDonough, headteacher at West Rainton Primary School, says: “Banks has involved the school in so many aspects of the Cathedral Meadows development and this has been so much more than token gestures, with so many members of their team giving their time to work with us.
“With the site being directly next to us, the children are naturally curious about the construction and Banks have accommodated and encouraged their interest, and have also shown genuine keen interest in the ethos and journey of our school.
“We have felt really valued by Kate, and by all in Banks Group, and we look forward to the relationship continuing over the next few years.”
The first homebuyers have now moved into their new properties at Cathedral Meadows, with more set to follow over the summer.
Russ Hall, managing director at Banks Homes, says: “Our Development With Care approach puts local communities at the heart of everything we do, and to be recognised for the quality of this work in the Housebuilder Awards is testament to the effectiveness of this approach.
“The community’s response to our consultation work has been extremely positive, with widespread recognition of the breadth of the work that we’ve done, how we’ve listened properly and how we’ve fulfilled our promises.
“We’re proud of the effective of the work that our community and site teams are delivering at Cathedral Meadows and committed to maintaining the close local relationships that we’ve established.”
The winners of the 2025 Housebuilder Awards will be revealed at a gala dinner in London in November.