Awards dinner 2026

EDF power solutions is part of one of the world’s largest electricity companies and our investment and innovation in renewable energy projects is reducing costs for consumers and bringing significant benefits to communities.

EDFpower solutions has an experienced team bringing complex development projects to fruition, across various renewable technologies, including onshore and offshore wind, solar, battery storage and hydrogen with more than 550 colleagues across the UK.

With decades of expertise in developing land across the North East and Yorkshire, Banks Property (part of the Banks Group) is dedicated to promoting high-quality, much-needed homes for people in the places where they want to live. We prioritise working with communities and landowners throughout the development fostering local social, economic, and environmental benefits through every project. This is what we call development with care. 

Elevating modern living, Banks Homes is a regional house builder that create homes designed by life. Placed for perfection and combining style as standard with innovative sustainable design to seamlessly blend elegance, quality, and practicality.

Hedley Planning is an award winning town planning consultancy, with a strong regional focus and a track record for unlocking complex sites and securing implementable planning permissions for clients.

Operating from two north east offices, our highly experienced staff advise a range of clients for housing, commercial and industrial developers and investors. Our experience sets us apart from our peers, we bring commercial knowledge to all schemes to ensure clients have clear, sound direction.

Combining local knowledge and contacts with national coverage and industry expertise, Savills is the largest planning consultancy in the UK operating from 60 offices. Within the north east, Savills are currently promoting land for over 30,000 homes across the region, whilst also supporting clients across a diverse range of sectors including mixed-use, education, industry and distribution, public transport and energy. Savills provides a “one stop shop” for support services including EIA, heritage consultancy, economics, health impact assessment, social value and sustainable design. Savills is the first real estate firm to be featured in the Times top 100 graduate employers.

Ward Hadaway is one of the largest full service law firms in the North of England with a reputation for quality, innovation and adopting a practical approach to meeting our clients’ needs. With 93 partners and almost 500 staff, the firm’s partner-led approach with all clients is supported by a resource that has real strength in depth.

We operate from offices in Newcastle, Leeds, Manchester,Teeside and Birmingham and have a substantial client base of regional, national and international clients from the public and private sectors. We have specialists and acknowledged experts in a number of fields with many of our partners being highly rated by legal directories and more importantly the clients they work for.

The Planning team at Womble Bond Dickinson is ranked as a national leader, outside London, and advises on the full range of planning and highways matters, including compulsory purchase order work. The team acts for a national client base including developers, local authorities, landowners, house builders and energy companies and specialises in advising on major development schemes and nationally significant infrastructure projects.  The team represents clients in planning litigation and planning inquiries, advises on a significant number of complex compulsory purchase matters, and has promoted 25 Development Consent Orders (DCOs) to date across the energy, waste and transport sectors.

Vistry is a leading UK housebuilder, delivering high-quality, sustainable homes and communities across all housing tenures. As a partnerships-focused business, we work alongside local authorities, housing associations, and investors to deliver large-scale regeneration and mixed-tenure developments that address housing need. In the North East, we have successfully delivered 575 homes and completed three partner deals in 2025 alone, building across 10 active sites.

Our expertise in delivering complex, multi-phased regeneration projects enables us to work closely with our partners to create thriving communities. With a strong track record in navigating funding challenges, enhancing design proposals, and developing targeted housing strategies, Vistry continues to lead the way in mixed-tenure development.