More than 700 guests attended the second Specialist Contractor Awards at London’s Park Lane Hilton, presented by magician Paul Zenon. Here’s some of the highlights …


A magical night
A magical night


Cementation Foundations Skanska emerged victorious at the second Specialist Contractor Awards held last Thursday.

The firm won the prestigious Best of the Best Award, beating four of the other category winners Hotchkiss, Kingspan Access Flooring, Laing O’Rourke and Overbury.

The five vying for the award scored the most first-place votes from our 100-strong academy of voters, all leading players in the industry, who decided the winners of the 17 categories.

Cementation also landed the prize for Piling Specialist of the Year and was praised by the judges for its safety record, its extensive research and its growth during the past year.

Other category winners included: Kone, which won the Sustainability Award; Italian multinational Permasteelisa, which won Cladding Specialist of the Year; Severfield-Rowen, which won Steelwork Contractor of the Year; and Restoration Specialist of the Year, the Cathedral Works Organisation.

Cardiff-based firm Ian Williams won a new award for this year, the Best Interior Decoration Specialist for its work on the new Barclays Bank headquarters in Canary Wharf, east London.

More than 700 guests attended the event, which was organised by Building in association with the DTI, and was held at the Hilton Hotel, Park Lane, London.

The awards were presented by comedian and magician Paul Zenon, who wowed the crowd with a mixture of amusing tricks and northern banter.

And the winners (in no particular order) were:

Best Supply Chain and Best Training, Hotchkiss Ductwork; Restoration Specialist, Cathedral Works Organisation; Roofing Specialist, Briggs Roofing and Cladding; Flooring Specialist, Kingspan Access Floors; M&E Specialist, Crown House Technologies; Cladding Specialist, Permasteelisa; Interior Decoration Specialist, Ian Williams; Fit-out Specialist, Overbury; Site Services Contractor, McGee; Piling Specialist, Cementation Foundations Skanska; Steelwork Specialist, Severfield-Rowen; Concrete Contractor, Laing O'Rourke; Off-site Manufacturer, Yorkon; Health and Safety, FK Lowry Piling; Innovation of the Year, Alumet Systems; and Sustainability Award, Kone.