A rather special win for KLB Homes

I’m incredibly proud to share that KLB Homes has been recognised at the United Kingdom Property Awards last week, receiving the Five Star Award for Best Single Residence in Surrey 2026.

(It's like the Oscars for the property industry!).

The UK Property Awards celebrate achievement across the property and design industry, so to have our studio recognised amongst businesses doing brilliant work in this field feels very, very special.

What makes this award particularly meaningful is what it represents. KLB Homes has never been about creating the biggest extension or making the loudest architectural statement. I started KLB Homes with a simple belief: homeowners deserve access to good, thoughtful design. That matters whether you’re adding a relatively small extension, completely reconfiguring the way your existing home works, renovating throughout, or taking on a much larger project. The scale may change, but the thinking shouldn’t.

Good residential design is about understanding the home you’re starting with and the people who live there. It’s questioning the obvious solution, making every bit of space work hard, thinking about light, flow, storage and how rooms connect, and considering how the decisions made now will affect everyday life for years to come.

Sometimes that means adding more space. Sometimes it means discovering that you don’t need as much additional space as you thought. And sometimes one relatively small design decision can completely change the way a whole house works. That’s the part of residential design I love...

Helping you see what’s possible

Most people don’t change their homes every day. They know when something isn’t working. They might need another bedroom, a better kitchen, somewhere for muddy boots, more light, a connection to the garden or simply a house that works better as family life changes.

But knowing the problem doesn’t mean you should also be expected to know the architectural solution. That’s where good design earns its place. Our job isn’t simply to draw what a client initially asks for, it’s to listen, understand why they’re asking for it, look at the home as a whole and explore whether there might be a better way to achieve what they actually need.

That approach runs through every KLB project, whatever its size or starting point, so receiving recognition from the UK Property Awards feels like a wonderful endorsement of something I care deeply about: helping homeowners make better, more considered decisions about their homes through good design.

And, of course, a thank you

KLB Homes may be a small business, but no project happens in isolation. To the clients who trust me with their homes, ideas, budgets and very occasionally rather ambitious wish lists - thank you. Being invited into someone’s home and asked to help shape how they’ll live in it is something I never take for granted.

And thank you to the brilliant professionals, builders and crafts I work alongside who help turn those ideas into something real. I’m enormously proud of this one!

Kristina x