The winners of the Building Awards were announced at a ceremony on Tuesday night. Here is more detail about all the winning entries
CEO of the Year
Mark Reynolds of Mace
There is no denying it has been a successful year for Mace chief Mark Reynolds. The firm’s consultant arm has continued to expand – recording a 36% jump in income to £500m last year. It has also continued to grow its overseas operations, with strong contributions from the European and Middle Eastern markets.
On top of this, in July Reynolds announced Mace planned to be a 10,000-strong business by 2026, seeking 2,500 new staff over the next three years. He said it expects to take on 1,000 people this year, numbers already up to 7,800 from 2022’s year-end figure of 7,300 and up 19% on the 6,652 employed in 2021.
Another focus for Mace under Reynolds’ leadership has been evolving the business culture. This included welcoming the most diverse group of undergraduates yet, in part due to its support of the 10,000 Black Interns programme. The year also saw a 21% rise in women working in Mace’s construction business.
Major project highlights this year included the completion of the much-lauded Battersea Power Station project – which has been recognised as one of the world’s most technically challenging schemes.
On top of this, Reynolds has been batting for the industry as a whole in his role as Construction Leadership Council co-chair. The CLC’s work this year has included launching a pilot project on a scheme developed by the contractors’ umbrella body ActuateUK to tackle project defects at source, research into the sector’s productivity, and a consultation on its biodiversity roadmap.
Housing Project of the Year
Winner: Dockley Apartments
Entered by Studio Woodroffe Papa / Poggi Architecture
Dockley Apartments transforms a former industrial site in London’s Bermondsey into a vibrant city block. Legendre was construction partner on the scheme.
Key passive design features include a high-performance building fabric, airtightness and thermal bridging to reduce winter heat loss and lower energy use for space heating.
The use of radiant heat technology reduces lifecycle carbon use and counters rising fuel costs for residents.
International Project of the Year
Winner: New Administration Building, Mae Ramat
Entered by Bidwells
This project comprised the design and delivery of a new administration building in rural Mae Ramat, Thailand, alongside a lab fit-out on the ground floor of a local hospital, funded by the University of Oxford’s Nuffield Department of Medicine and by the Wellcome Trust.
The scheme was delivered for the Borderland Health Foundation, which focuses on malaria, tuberculosis, and maternal and child health.
The university led the supplier selection process, which saw Bidwells named as project manager. The client brief evolved over the course of the project. After the initial design was created, Bidwells was given the design, which was further developed by a Thai multidisciplinary architect to translate and deliver it.
As a result, the location of the development was moved from a town to a rural location on the outskirts, and the design was modified to make the most of the new location and create an optimal finished product.
Client of the Year
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council
To tackle a huge beach littering problem, the council worked with WSP to create the Durley Chine Environmental Hub, which helps the area’s residents and visitors understand the environmental impact of single-use packaging and waste on the region’s fragile coasts and sea. The hub also acts as a sustainability exemplar itself, as it uses a high proportion of recycled, reclaimed and renewable materials.
Retrofit/Refurbishment Project of the Year
Quadrangle Building, King’s College London
Entered by Hall McKnight
Hall McKnight’s project brings a building that occupies an unusual, constrained space back into use as a home for the university’s engineering department.
Situated within a grade I-listed site in The Strand conservation area, the building’s roof forms the quadrangle of the founding campus.
The undergraduate learning and teaching spaces are designed to encourage collaboration and interaction.
Offsite Project of the Year
National Manufacturing Institute Scotland
Entered by HLM Architects
The new NMIS, rated BREEAM Outstanding, supports Scottish manufacturing businesses by helping attract investment and providing connections to engineering universities and colleges.
Standardisation was considered throughout by way of repetitive grids and modules, enabling economies of scale and a reduction of material wastage by using repetitive design sections.
Offsite manufacture was also critical to realising the project’s ambitious delivery programme.
Employer of the Year
Stride Treglown
As part of its B Corp certification, Stride Treglown changed its articles of association in 2022 to set in stone its legal commitment to run the firm for the benefit of society, the environment and its members.
It has also launched GROW, an in-house programme creating opportunities for its teams to develop personally and professionally.
The firm offers staff technical training, workshops, coaching, study leave and online learning materials. Its recent Deaf Academy project in Exmouth is pictured.
Delivering Social Value Award
Services Design Solutions
In May 2022 Services Design Solutions was appointed to the lead design team for the Plymouth Sound National Marine Park development, with LHC Design and Airey & Coles Consulting Engineers.
As part of its winning tender, of which social value carried 20% weighting, SDS pledged social value activities against the Plymouth Charter themes to support the National Marine Park in its aim of getting people into, onto, under and near the sea.
The activities, planned across the year-long contract duration of the project, included 100% of the design team being Plymouth-based SMEs, hosting four pro-bono workshops on low and zero carbon, and contributing 60 swimming lessons to get disadvantaged children into the water.
Housebuilder of the Year
Berkeley Group
In the last year Berkeley Group has continued to focus on brownfield regeneration, reviving underused land to create unique, sustainable and nature-rich places where communities thrive. The firm has delivered 86% of its homes on brownfield land and built more than 4,600 mixed-tenure homes in the last year alone.
According to the Home Builders Federation, Berkeley had a net promoter score of 79.2+, against an industry average of 42. In addition, 97.5% of its customers would recommend the firm to a friend, compared with an industry average of 90%.
Current schemes include the 2,500-home White City Living (pictured), in west London.
Berkeley Group has 54 net biodiversity gain strategies in place, to deliver more than 550 acres of new or measurably improved habitat. In March of this year it co‑hosted the Biodiversity Net Gain Conference in partnership with Natural England and the Local Government Association, in order to share best practice.
The firm says 97.5% of its sites incorporate wetland features, with 52 acres of wetland habitat planned or completed. Its Royal Exchange development in Kingston achieved water neutrality in a trial completed with Thames Water, which involved retrofitting and upgrading 79 local businesses, homes and schools to save 45,00 litres of water.
This year Berkeley achieved its 2030 science-based targets for scope one and two emissions, having seen a 56% reduction compared with 2022 and a 76% reduction since its 2019 base year.
Berkeley has invested £560m in the communities in and around its sites in the past year, through affordable housing subsidies as well as wider community and infrastructure contributions.
The firm says 100% of its regeneration sites with residents have community plans in place, and it has actively engaged with the industry-wide Future Homes Hub and the Nature and Places Steering Group, as well as the Quality of Life Foundation.
The past year was also a breakthrough year for Berkeley’s social impact programmes. It scaled up partnerships and invested £3.9m into 50 charities supporting 13,000 disadvantaged people in local communities. Meanwhile, 59% of its employees contributed to the Berkeley Foundation in the past year.
Specialist Contractor of the Year
SES Engineering Services
For SES Engineering Services, one of the UK’s leading specialist M&E partners, the past year has been among the best in its 62-year history.
Early collaboration and integration are central to its approach, ensuring the solutions it delivers are innovative, sustainable and meet client needs. Standout projects include 33 Charterhouse Street and the JJ Mack Building (pictured), both in London, Sandwell Aquatics Centre in Smethwick, and Co-op Live, which is on site in Manchester.
The company aims to inspire future talent, having supported 67 apprentices, employed 46 individuals furthest from the workforce and reached 8,546 students through educational activities like site tours, careers fairs and employability sessions.
Small Project of the Year
Grenfell Nursery
Entered by Perkins&Will
This is a new home for the Grenfell Early Years Nursery, a cornerstone of the Lancaster West Children’s Community Network in north Kensington.
Originally housed at the foot of Grenfell Tower, following the tragedy of 2017 it moved to temporary accommodation before having its new home developed.
Perkins&Will’s facility includes two main rooms on the ground floor and one on the first, providing flexible spaces and supporting opportunities for outdoor learning – fundamental to the nursery’s approach.
Manufacturer of the Year
Siderise Insulation
Siderise has created an extensive technical and service wrapper around its high-performance, third-party tested cavity barriers and fire stops, to support best-practice specification and installation. Conversations with customers highlighted that using stainless steel cavity trays to meet new Building Regulations was time-consuming and expensive, with installation often difficult.
In response, it developed a market-disrupting solution that combines an aluminium tray and insulation in one engineered product that can be installed eight times faster than traditional approaches.
Major Contractor of the Year (over £500m)
Mace
The past year has been a shining one for Mace. The firm’s construction business began the year with 73% of its budgeted turnover secured and ended it having converted over £2bn-worth of new work. This is the equivalent of one project win a week and puts the business firmly among the top echelon of London contractors. It also completed one of the world’s most challenging projects at Battersea Power Station (pictured), broke into new markets, and had its best health and safety performance ever, reaching an accident frequency rate of 0.03, all while tackling the biggest challenges facing the sector.
Embedding practices and tools to manage risk and behaviours, simplifying processes and implementing intelligent data solutions all led Mace to a consistent culture of health, safety and wellbeing excellence that produced exemplary results last year. The firm took a proactive approach to seeking out risks, sharing learning and campaigning for safer behaviours. This resulted in a reduction in the number of reportable incidents from 25 to eight year-on-year.
Sustainability has also been a focus, with Mace entering its third year as a carbon-neutral business, having further reduced its emissions and offset those remaining via Gold Standard offsets. It became a founding member of ConcreteZero, reaffirming the firm’s commitment to delivering low-carbon concrete, and continued to test and develop its pioneering low-carbon cassettes, securing their installation on two sites in early 2023. Mace delivered its first ever diesel-free site at 78 St James Street and introduced a ban on diesel generators for all its construction projects, opting for electric plant and accredited HVO fuel as alternatives.
Another focus has been the support the firm gives through development and tools to set its people up for success. Mace continued to invest in talent and increased the number of graduates and apprentices by 197, which in total made up 5.3% of its workforce. This included welcoming the most diverse group of undergraduates to have joined Mace yet, in part due to its support of the 10,000 Black Interns programme. The year also saw a 21% increase in the number of women working in Mace’s construction business.
Net Zero Award
The Entopia Building
Entered by ISG
When Cambridge’s Institute for Sustainability Leadership wanted a new HQ, it had to be a low-carbon exemplar. This deep green refurbishment features 35% bio-based materials and reclaimed steel. Targeting BREEAM Outstanding, it has already met the EnerPhit standard with predicted operational energy use of 58kW/m²/yr; monitoring suggests actual use is 45kW/m²/yr. Upfront embodied carbon is 130kgCO2/m².
Engineering Consultant of the Year
Hydrock
Hydrock has taken an industry-leading position on the Building Safety Act. Having forensically examined the legislation, it is speaking directly to the housing and communities department and the Building Safety Regulator on the challenges of adoption. The regulator says the firm is providing a best-practice industry response. Hydrock has also set up staff safe spaces for talk and learning on subjects such as baby loss and menopause. Project highlights include One Strawberry Lane, Newcastle (pictured).
Contractor of the Year (up to £500m)
Britcon
Last year saw Britcon return to the black after a loss-making 2021 due to a volatile trading environment. A buoyant market with skills shortages also caused higher-than-normal employee churn. In response, it introduced a new senior management team focused on growing the business and introducing strategies to address key challenges and improve resilience.
Successfully returning the company to profit while retaining and attracting people from diverse backgrounds has been a cornerstone of the past 12 months.
Britcon has invested over £1m in people, technologies and partnerships to respond to industry challenges, including decarbonising its operations, improving health, safety and wellbeing, embracing digital technologies and implementing MMC and whole-life efficiencies. The positive impacts of these changes include the firm’s digital snagging process reducing defects by 26%.
Britcon has also expanded its operations geographically with work for ABP in East Anglia and a clean energy hub for Redcar and Cleveland council.
Construction Consultant/Surveyor of the Year (fewer than 100 staff)
Plan A Consultants
Over the past year Plan A Consultants has worked on 28 new projects across the Middle East and the UK, including masterplanning, culture, leisure, sports, transport, residential, healthcare and hospitality schemes. The firm is working with David Chipperfield Architects on the London School of Economics & Political Science’s Firoz Lalji Global Hub at 35 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, a project that aims to retain between 40% and 60% of the existing building on the site, prioritising reuse over demolition.
Building Awards 2023: Building Magazine Project of the Year
Battersea Power Station Phase II
Entered by Mace
Bringing the mighty power station back to life after closure in 1983 has been one of Britain’s biggest and most challenging projects.
The four distinctive chimneys were demolished and carefully rebuilt to match the originals, with nearly 1.8 million bricks specially made.
The turbine halls have been reinvented as retail spaces, the old boiler house as offices and the switch houses as flats.
At the project’s peak there were 17 cranes and 3,000 workers on site.
Construction Consultant/Surveyor of the Year (over 100 staff)
CPC Project Services
CPC has focused on being a different type of consultancy that covers diverse challenges across a range of sectors, providing specialist advice and added‑value solutions.
This has included helping tackle the housing crisis and issues with land supply by adding an upstream site land sourcing service, a dedicated social value team and a team working on a new command control centre for Vancouver TransLink. Project highlights include One Berkeley Street on Piccadilly (pictured).
Architectural Practice of the Year
HLM Architects
HLM has this year further strengthened its position as a leader in MMC and sustainable design. Through projects such as The Wave in Sheffield (pictured), NMIS in Glasgow, and Keele University’s Innovation Centre 7 in Staffordshire, it continues to drive innovation, seeking to improve the built environment.
The practice has led cutting-edge platform research to address key issues within the industry, including the skills and social housing shortage, and to promote adoption of MMC in key sectors such as healthcare and education.
It has also developed HLM_Impact, a digital post-occupancy evaluation tool to assess building users’ satisfaction.
Digital Excellence Award
Connect Configurator
Entered by Tilbury Douglas
Tilbury Douglas’s entry is a first-of-its-kind solution in collaboration with its partner Unity, a real-time 3D-content leader. Connect is a platform design solution that sets the stage for digital-twin delivery, hosting flexible user-friendly tools. The hub-and-spoke approach to host applications and modules avoids being forced down a single-platform route, so the firm can use best-in-class software to drive performance improvements and harness best practice from other industries.
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