A London couple have won a nationwide competition for Britain’s best home renovation following their overhaul of a one-bedroom flat in Pimlico.  The competition, sponsored by Winkworth, and in association with Primelocation.com, was launched to celebrate the nation’s home renovations – whether it’s giving lounges a perk-up or a big-budget house refresh.

The winners, Peter Trill, an interior designer, and Suzanne Garton, who works in television, were chosen as the winners by the judges and will receive the £5,000 cash prize.

Amber Rampley, Winkworth Marketing Director, who was on the judging panel, said:

“We were impressed with interest the competition generated from all over the UK and the quality of entries we received. Peter and Suzanne’s project really stood out for its creative use of such limited space and combination of original Victorian features and contemporary finishes. We could really see that they had put a lot of passion into the project from their exquisite choice of fabrics to the innovative space saving design ideas.”

Peter and Suzanne bought their 334sq ft flat, on the second floor of a Victorian terrace on Grosvenor Road, SW1, in June 2008 for £240,000. They spent £45,000 on the refurbishment, which took the best part of a year.

The couple say it was a conscious decision to buy a property for under £250,000, avoiding stamp duty, and then spend some extra money on renovating it: “It makes more sense to buy below £250,000, not pay out the stamp duty, and then spend another forty-odd thousand to bring it up to something we want it to be”.  Peter and Suzanne are part of a growing trend of buyers who want to purchase less expensive properties in central London and take on a renovation project with the aim of putting their own stamp on the project.

Work on the property didn’t start for a good year after purchase, giving Peter and Suzanne some time to think about the best ways to maximise the limited space they had. “We wanted it to have a boutique hotel, pied-a-terre feel about it and at the same time really make sure we got every last square inch out of it,” said Peter.

As part of the renovation a new, full-height galley kitchen was added as well as a new, largely monochrome bathroom featuring a drop ceiling to house a loft space.

Peter and Suzanne are thrilled with the results of their renovation and also winning the competition: “We were hugely amazed and thrilled to have won. We did think it was within the realms of possibility that we’d be shortlisted but to win outright was incredible.”

Britain’s Best Home Renovation competition was open to anyone who had renovated part or all of their property between September 2009 and September 2010. All entries were judged by a panel of experts, including representatives of the British Institute of Interior Design, after which a shortlist of properties was drawn up and discussed at length by the judges.