Sker House, a striking yellow Grade I listed Elizabethan mansion near Porthcawl, has been named one of Wales' best buildings at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Awards 2024. The house, which emerges from sand dunes overlooking the south Wales coastline, won the Heritage Award at a ceremony held at The Parkgate Hotel, Cardiff on July 8, 2026.
Award-Winning Projects Across Wales
The RICS Awards celebrate the most ground-breaking schemes across land, real estate, construction and infrastructure. Other winners included Y Storfa, Swansea Hub, which scooped Project of the Year and Public Sector project awards; Canolfan Pentre Awel, Llanelli, which won the Community Benefit project award; and Prince Charles Hospital, Merthyr Tydfil, which claimed the Refurbishment/Revitalisation project award. Caerphilly Castle Regeneration Project was highly commended in the Heritage category.
Y Storfa is a community hub created from the former BHS building in Swansea city centre, delivered as part of Swansea Council's £1bn regeneration programme. Prince Charles Hospital is undergoing a multi-phase redevelopment that is estimated to reduce embodied carbon by around 40% compared with a new-build alternative, while energy improvements are anticipated to cut consumption by 20%. Canolfan Pentre Awel is a 20,000m² health and wellbeing innovation campus in Llanelli, forming part of the Swansea Bay City Deal.
Sker House: A History Spanning 900 Years
Sker House is one of the most important historic buildings in Wales. The site is approximately 900 years old, with the present house likely occupying the site of a monastic grange originally granted to Margam Abbey by Earl William in the early 12th century, later transferred to Neath Abbey. After the dissolution of the monasteries, the site was acquired by Christopher Turberville of Pen-llin, sheriff in 1550 and 1569, and the present house is believed to have been built around 1561.
The original structure was mainly destroyed, but in the late sixteenth century it was reconstructed into the Elizabethan-style property that remains today. Part of the Margam Estate until 1941, the house became derelict and nearly forgotten before a building preservation trust intervened and restored the property in 1999. The crumbling ruin was subsequently rebuilt and restored by historian and owner Niall Ferguson over three decades, at a cost of around £1.2 million.
Ghost Stories and Local Folklore
Throughout the years, the property has been linked with numerous ghost stories and local folklore, some connected to R.D. Blackmore's 19th-century novel, The Maid of Sker, which took inspiration from the house. A further novel entitled Sker House by Ronald Welch was published in 1955. According to local legend, Elizabeth Williams was confined to the house by her controlling father to prevent her from eloping with her true love. She perished alone in the attic of a broken heart, and visitors have reportedly heard high-pitched screeches, wailing cries, and even claim to have seen a woman's figure in the window.
Grade I Listing and Renovation
The house was awarded Grade I listed status in 1952, a designation given to only around 2% of Cadw listed buildings, for being one of the major Elizabethan houses of South Wales. The listing, based on a visit in 1952, described the house as being 'in a very poor and dangerous condition' so much so that not all of the building could be surveyed, with the upper floors not in a good enough state to be seen. The renovation and restoration of Sker House is thought to have cost around £1.2 million.
Commenting on the awards, UK national awards chair, Kerry Gibbs MRICS, said: “These Awards shine a spotlight on the most inspiring people, projects and innovations shaping the built and natural environment, creating a powerful platform that elevates the profile of chartered surveying and celebrates its impact on communities nationwide.” Gibbs added: “This year we received over 300 entries across all twelve of the RICS regions. The Awards are hugely important. They help demonstrate the positive impact that surveyors, as well as buildings, have on individuals and communities. They promote the role of surveying in making those projects a reality.”
The successful entries at each of the regional awards events will progress to represent their region at the UK Grand Final in London on Thursday, October 22, 2026.
