Rupert Bates, editorial director of Show House magazine and whathouse.com, has presented the WhatHouse? Awards for almost four decades. As the 46th Awards approach on Friday 20th November, we sat down with Rupert to talk through the moments, the winners and his favourite host of the Awards so far.
During the 46 WhatHouse? Awards, which one stands out for you the most and why?
“My first Awards ceremony was 36 years ago. Obviously they had to put a ‘booster’ platform on the lectern as I was only 10! But seriously very difficult to pick a stand-out Awards. Ironically it was probably the year when there was little to celebrate other than the resilience of this remarkable industry and that was 2008 amid the Global Financial Crisis. Numbers were down at the Awards with so many great people having lost their jobs, so there was huge goodwill and shared pain and support in the room that day.”
You’ve been at the heart of the WhatHouse? Awards for decades. What still makes the Awards feel exciting rather than routine?
“I get a huge buzz out of presenting the Awards. There are plenty of familiar faces, many of whom have become great friends, but always new ones too. The energy in the room is extraordinary. It has always been so much more than an Awards ceremony – it is a day that brings great people doing great things together, often against huge odds and that is certainly the case today. Winning an Award means so much to everyone, be it in the room on the day or back on sites and in offices as the news is instantly relayed by phone and video – competitors in the market, but friends in life.”
Has there been a winner that’s genuinely surprised you? A company that came in as an underdog and walked away with gold. What did their entry do that others didn’t?
“In many ways there is no such thing as a surprise winner, as by the very nature of the Awards they recognise the very best in class, whatever the size of operation. But a surprise to many, including the founders of the business Spencer and Clinton McCarthy, was Emlor Homes winning Housebuilder of the Year in 1998. Emlor built lovely stone and thatched cottages, before the brothers turned to retirement homes and Churchill Living was born. Spencer tells a lovely story of how the late great Tony Pidgley, founder of the Berkeley Group, approached him immediately afterwards, not to congratulate him but to ask: ‘how much for your business?’ .”
There’s a perception among some smaller housebuilders that the Awards favour the big players. What would you say to a 30-unit housebuilder who’s on the fence about entering?
“SMEs are the lifeblood of the industry, and they are draining away in numbers in the wake of huge pressures – be they economic or regulatory, not to mention planning which continues to defy belief and logic in its obvious and endless deficiencies. SMEs are casualties of numerically illiterate governments with no concept of how the business of housebuilding works, especially if you are a small owner-driver desperately trying to absorb the hits. Their passion for quality and enhancing local communities is reflected in everything they do and build. Showcase your incredible work; it is highly likely to be award-winning.”
What does a great WhatHouse? entry actually look like? What separates the ones that make judges lean forward from the ones that don’t?
“Storytelling is very important, but please not through the medium of AI! Get across the quality of your homes and the placemaking, but how did you get there and what were the drivers? Highlight passion projects designed to make a difference and deliver new homes, and the people and supply chains that made them possible. Make the bricks talk to the judges, building not just homes, but communities, be that the smallest collection, or at scale. Great images always help to tell stories too.”
What’s the ambition for the room on 20th November, and why does the experience around the awards matter as much as the awards themselves?
“Rather like in 2008, this will be a year not just to celebrate the very best new homes in Britain, but acknowledge the industry’s extraordinary resilience. In many ways, while enjoying the day, seeing old friends and making new homes, it should be an angry room, because the way housebuilders are so wrongly perceived by politicians and the public at large is a very big reason why both sentiment and the economy are on the floor. Housebuilders are massive drivers of growth, creators of jobs and makers of places, and we need to make that heard beyond the walls of a five-star hotel in Central London.”
The WhatHouse? Awards have had a brilliant roster of celebrity hosts over the years, from William Hague to Romesh Ranganathan. Who has been your favourite?
“I think I’ve had my favourites in various forms along the way. William Hague, the former leader of the Conservative party, has hosted the event three times and is that rare hybrid of humour beside unique insight into politics, which sadly is inextricably coupled to housebuilding. Joanna Lumley was an absolute rock star when she presented the Awards. Astronaut Tim Peake, who co-presented with Dara O’Briain, did what no human has ever done; he silenced the room to pin drop levels talking about space. Jack Whitehall went back-to-back and is the only presenter to sound posher than me, while actor James Nesbitt sung his way into the room and loved his red wine over lunch.
There were only six people in the room when Romesh Ranganathan presented the Awards in 2020. It was lockdown so we had to have a ‘digital’ ceremony. A friend got us access to an empty hotel with a film crew. I interviewed Stewart Baseley of the HBF about how the industry was coping with the pandemic; chatted to Romesh, who then read out the award winners. It was certainly not one take, as we kept collapsing in laughter as he tried to deliver the results with passion and enthusiasm to an empty room. But plenty tuned in digitally. Romesh donated his entire fee – a significant five figure number – to a charity in his home town of Crawley, but told me not to mention it. So I won’t.”
“I am super-excited about our 2026 host. Here’s to a fantastic Awards. Get your entries in and your tables booked and see you on November 20th. I’m much older, not much wiser, but still blown away by what a fantastic industry I have been privileged to chronicle for nearly 40 years.”
Ready to be part of it? Enter the 2026 WhatHouse? Awards here: https://whathouseawards.co.uk/enter-the-awards/. Entries close 17th July 2026.
