Laing building manager Richard Pike this week won the gold medal at the 2002 Building Manager of the Year awards.
Pike won the award for his work on the £35m National Ice Centre in Nottingham for the city council. This included the construction of two ice rinks and a leisure centre.

The project was hit by groundworks problems, including the discovery by archaeologists of the remains of 1400 human bodies under the site.

Pike's work was congratulated by the judges, who said: "Despite a short lead-in, he managed to keep the design ahead of construction at all times. He managed to mould a very effective team from representatives of the private sector, the local authority client, the operator and national sports governing bodies."

Mace's Richard Thorpe took silver in the category for his work on a £210m headquarters building for pharmaceuticals firm GlaxoSmithKline in west London. Thorpe was praised for the quality, profitability and safety of the project. His colleague at Mace, Gareth Lewis, scooped the bronze for his work on a £180m headquarters for Merrill Lynch in the City of London.

Willmott Dixon's Mark Chamberlain won in the £3-17m category for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists at Regent's Park. Chamberlain was praised for proposing the use of sheet steel piles, rather than concrete bored piles, in the construction of the building.

In the under £3m category, Mowlem's Thibault Heinrich was awarded first place for his work on Prestwick airport in Ayrshire. Gold in housing of more than three storeys went to Richard Morris of Berkeley Homes' southern division; Paul Taylor of Willmott Dixon Housing won in the housing of up to three storeys category.

The BT Award for Technological Innovation in Construction was won by Holger Garden of Taylor Woodrown for a Boots building in Nottingham. The awards, presented on Tuesday at London's Park Lane Hilton hotel, were sponsored by Construction Manager and the Chartered Institute of Building.