A HUGELY controversial housing estate in Wellington has been put forward for a prestigious architectural award.

The Monument View site in Exeter Road, Rockwell Green, is one of two developments shortlisted in this year’s Michelmores Property Awards.

It was entered by Vistry Group, the UK’s largest housebuilder, in the category for residential projects with 36 or more homes and made the list of finalists alongside the redevelopment of the former Cadbury’s chocolate factory in Keynsham.

Monument View was built by Bovis Homes, part of Vistry, after land speculators Gladman Developments won planning permission on appeal in 2018 to build 205 houses on fields outside the boundary of Wellington.

The planning victory paved the way for Gladman to later win a further permission without opposition from Somerset Council for 315 homes to be built on the opposite side of Exeter Road, a development which has yet to be started.

In its awards entry, Vistry described Monument View as ‘a strategic expansion to the southern edge of Wellington’.

The firm claimed it was a response to ‘local housing pressures and the district’s need for high-quality mixed-tenure homes’.

More than 50 of the estate’s homes are classed as ‘affordable’.

A Vistry spokesperson said: “The development strengthens placemaking and wellbeing via a hedgerow-framed central green, strong pedestrian and cycling connections, and a clear street hierarchy.”

The Michelmores awards, now in their 23rd year, recognise achievements in property development, construction, and regeneration, celebrating projects which contribute to the region's economy and community, with a particular focus on environmental sustainability, innovation, and social impact.

A Michelmores spokesperson said: “The awards continue to place emphasis on sustainability, innovation, and the broader positive impact of projects within their communities.

“With categories designed to reflect the diversity and quality of development across the West of England and South West, the awards highlight the growing importance of responsible, future-focused design.”

The awards dinner and ceremony will take place in the Sandy Park Conference Centre, in Exeter, on Thursday, June 25.

Also shortlisted this year is the new surgical centre in Musgrove Park Hospital, Taunton, which was entered in the project costing £10 million or more category by a partnership of Kier Construction and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust.

A partnership spokesperson said: “The surgical centre project is the culmination of many years of careful strategic planning and delivery of 14 enabling projects across the estate to pave the way for this cornerstone building.

“Construction was undertaken in one of the most complex live hospital environments in the UK and was delivered to replace former hospital theatres and the critical care unit, which were built during the Second World War as part of a temporary casualty evacuation hospital for the D-Day landings.

“The completed centre provides operating theatres, endoscopy rooms, critical care beds, sterile services, and clinical support within a state-of-the-art facility, delivering a healing and reassuring environment for patients while strengthening healthcare infrastructure and improving care for the people of Somerset.”

It is shortlisted with two other hospital projects in Devon and a commercial office block in Bristol.