As part of his Hunter company, Hugh Walker Designs, he won a national ­industry excellence award and a commendation for a property at Singleton.

“The owner had a steep block that no one could build on,” Mr Walker said.

“The brief was for a four-bedroom house that was bold. I would like to get clients like that all the time.”

Mr Walker said the views from the ­property were the inspiration for the design, with a focus on privacy from neighbouring homes.

The build started at the beginning of 2014 and was wrapped up in March this year.

“We ended up with an unusual L-shaped home because of the site constraints,” he said.

“It is bright, colourful, abstract and just ­really different.”

The Singleton property had already won a design award from the Newcastle chapter of the BDA, but to win a national award was a real coup for Mr Walker.

“It is nice to see something from the Hunter win because at the national awards you are up against bigger metropolitan projects,” he said.

Through his role at Martin Building Services Mr Walker also won an award for best commercial design for a building under $2 million.

This was for the construction of business premises at Beresfield.

The national awards were held in Hobart on October 29.

Mr Walker now designs exclusively for Martin Building Services across the Hunter region.