Great Gulf’s One Bloor condo and mixed-use tower. Great Gulf swept the Builder of the Year honours at this year’s BILD Awards. (Courtesy Great Gulf)

Great Gulf is no stranger to the awards table, but it accomplished an industry first at the 40th Annual GTA Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) Awards last week. The Toronto-based builder swept both the Mid/High Rise and Low Rise Builder of the Year honours.

“We have always worked very hard to ensure the homes we build are the best, and that we meet our homebuyers’ high expectations and fulfill their needs,” said Niall Collins, Great Gulf president residential, in a release following the announcements. “It’s very gratifying for us at Great Gulf to win these awards — and have the hard work of all of our staff including service, sales, customer care, design studio and construction recognized and celebrated.”

This is the first time since 2016, when Home Builder of the Year was divided into two categories, that the same builder garnered both awards.

BILD’s annual awards were presented virtually from Sept. 14-18 in 44 categories. A group of 39 expert judges from across North America determined the winners from 947 submitted entries. For a complete list of winners visit www.bildawards.com.

Six homebuilder awards for Great Gulf

Great Gulf is a six-time winner of builder of the year in the various categories.

The award is based on quality, service and customer commitment from construction, sales and marketing, to post-closing service. A key component of the judging process is a customer satisfaction survey completed by recent occupants of the builder’s communities.

Great Gulf also received the award for Best Advertising Campaign – Paid Media.

Established in 1975, the Great Gulf Group of companies include Great Gulf Homes, a low-rise and high-rise residential developer. Great Gulf and its affiliates have constructed more than 70,000 residences.

Other BILD award winners

In other divisions, Concert Properties Ltd. took home the Stephen Dupuis Humanitarian award for its unique approach to corporate social responsibility.

For over 30 years, Concert has given back through Concert Community Works, which is involved in charitable activities and events like Covenant House, Youth without Shelter, Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon, Bubble Hockey for Sick Kids Foundation, Ride to Conquer Cancer and the Scott Street Mission and pledged $1 million to George Brown College’s Centre for Construction and Engineering Technologies.

The People’s Choice Award, determined by members of the public through online voting, was awarded to Acorn Developments for Lookout on the Knoll.

Situated on the highest peak of the Oak Ridge, the master-planned community borders a greenbelt reserve with tree-lined boulevards and parkland.

Acorn Developments also won Best Semi-Detached/Townhouse Design for Lookout on the Knoll, The Cedar, and Green Builder of the year, Low-Rise.

“The People’s Choice Award is a unique honour because it is the public that decides the winner,” said BILD president and CEO Dave Wilkes in a separate release.

“5,496 people cast votes for projects that competed for the best in city building. These projects demonstrate how the industry is providing a wide range of housing options for home buyers in GTA.”

Tridel takes Green builder honour

Tridel came out on top for the Green Builder of the year Mid/High-Rise. Tridel also took home Best High-Rise Building Design for Tridel at the Well and Best Customer Care award.

Brightwater, a new community along Lake Ontario in Port Credit, won Best New Community, Planned/Under Development. The development is a joint project by BILD members Diamondcorp, Dream Asset Management Corp., Fram Building Group and Kilmer Nostrand.

The Best Mid-Rise Building Design went to Alterra Group of Companies for 321 Davenport and the award for Best Overall Marketing Campaign went to the team of Empire Communities and Pureblink for their Empire Life Reimagined campaign.

With 1,500 member companies, BILD is the voice of the home building, land development and professional renovation industry in the Greater Toronto Area. BILD is affiliated with the Ontario and Canadian Home Builders’ Associations.