EHN Award Winners 2023: The Best Before and After Photograph Award, sponsored by Finders International

Presented at our annual Conference in May, the EHN Awards serve to recognise and celebrate the work that empty homes officers, team and practitioners do on a daily basis, and enable them to promote their successes through national recognition. This year was no different, with some incredible examples of projects, case studies and people, who have displayed fantastic attributes to bring empty homes back into use in their areas.

The Best Before and After Photograph award, sponsored by Finders International, perfectly represents how a photo can tell a thousand words. It also displays the differences that returning empty homes back into use can have on their neighbours and communities.

Highly commended in this category were Durham County Council for their Dipton submission, the City of Bradford Metropolitan Council and Gedling Borough Council.

On awarding one of the joint winners for this category, Rotherham MBC, the panel said…

“Having been a blight on an otherwise quiet and attractive neighbourhood for over thirteen years, this case is a perfect example of how the support and guidance given by an Empty Homes Officer can help an owner and their family through the most difficult of circumstances and achieve a positive outcome for all involved.”

On our second winners, Dorset Council, the panel said…

“Located on Gold Hill and immortalized in the infamous 1973 Hovis Advert, this example acts as a stark reminder that empty homes come in all shapes, sizes and locations.

In what is a highly sought after area coupled with a well-established tourist economy, this Grade II listed property has been brought back to use with the assistance of the Council’s Empty Homes Team, irrespective of the challenges that would inevitably be incurred with a property of this age, structure and location and planning constraints.”

Congratulations to Rotherham MBC, Dorset Council and those highly commended for this year’s award. All are deserving of their recognition, for their huge success and hard work on these cases.