Five years ago Stephen Day was the sole figure behind Magellan Residential - but now he is head of one of the district's most prolific house builders.

With a staff of 20, the business, which works from stylish canal-side offices near Salts Mill, turns over £14 million a year.

And that is set to grow as Magellan eyes up other sites across Bradford and Yorkshire always for new opportunities.

It's forward vision is undoubtedly inspired by its namesake - a 16th century Portugese sailor and explorer Ferdinand Magellan.

And Magellan the builder is out to explore new horizons in house construction.

Earlier this month its groundbreaking work was rewarded when it won the fiercely-contested title of Independent Developer of the Year at the Residential Property Awards 2006.

It was the latest in a string of accolades for Magellan, which Mr Day says was proof of his team's hard work and commitment and an honour recognising the quality of its designs, build and interiors.

Not all of its projects are new-build. One of its most acclaimed ventures was the rebirth of a former spa hotel in Ilkley restoring the Grade II listed Wells House, which has links with Victorian scientist Charles Darwin, in a multi-million pound project that has also won accolades from the Civic Trust and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

It kept the splendour of the Italianate building and gardens, restoring many of the original features and turning the lavish premises into luxury apartments.

The finished product was so good Mr Day bought himself a home there. And he is not the only Magellan member to have bought one of the firm's own homes.

Mr Day said: "We don't just stick to one design or one kind of development. We move from small first-time buyer homes to three or four bedroom homes for families and luxury apartments like at Wells House."

Magellan carries out research to make sure it meets the market needs. Affordability is key.

Another of their high-profile developments is the Tramways at Guiseley. The restoration of the former tram depot, which cost £3 million, won an award for its conversion to 21 luxury apartments and the scheme was also commended in the Yorkshire Renaissance awards.

While Magellan is happy to accept its accolades from the industry, it is clear it does not want to be labelled.

Mr Day said: "We are flexible. We don't want to be tied into a particular style of development, that's not what we are about - quality homes is. We are a local company working with local contacts. We will go wherever opportunities arise and are actively looking for more sites."

Contact with timber merchants Arnold Laver, which owned the Tramways site, led them to another site it was selling off in Sheffield where Magellan has now built 188 apartments and townhouses.

In Bradford, work is in progress on sites across the district including executive homes in Harden, a £6 million mini-village in Eccleshill where half the homes have already sold, three and four-bedroom homes in Denholme and more than 50 houses in Illingworth near Halifax on a demolished council estate .

Mr Day is justifiably proud of the firm's achievements so far and says he does not want to join the big-boy brigade.

He said: "We don't want to be building and selling houses just like shifting tins of beans from the shelves. We don't want to get into the scenario of just churning out what we do. We are building homes that bring improvements to an area. Our first five-year business plan has succeeded and now we are moving on to the next stage to exceed that.

"We are very much committed to Bradford. It's an exciting market to be in."

Although Magellan is continually hunting new sites, it recently had to sell off one acquisition which had courted controversy for more than two years.

It took two and a half years to push through plans for homes on the former Nab Wood Middle School site in Shipley.

But when approval finally came through, Magellan was already running at full capacity and sold the land on.

Mr Day said the sale was done in the community's best interest. He said: "When we bought it we thought we would have been on site within nine months. By the time we got the go ahead, other schemes had come up and we'd had to move on. It would not have been fair to the people living near there to keep them waiting."

Magellan is now looking at its newest Aire Valley project to build 59 homes on the site of the old Kassapian works in Baildon's Otley Road area. The £8 million scheme will be targeting first-time buyers, young professionals and local investors and is due to start this Spring, and Shipley Community Housing Trust will be among its first clients.